Legacy of the Red Sun: The Complete Trilogy
by Darth Marrs
Summary: After Luke Skywalker died in a tragic speeder accident as a child, ObiWan was about to give up hope, until he discovered a child with powers unlike anything he'd ever seen: the last son of Krypton. A repost of entire Trilogy.
1. While the Wind Blew

**Legacy of the Red Sun: The Complete Trilogy**

**A Star Wars/Smallville Crossover**

Summary: Luke Skywalker died in a tragic speeder accident on Tattooine. Fate fills the gap by delivering to Obi-Wan a child with powers the likes of which the galaxy has never seen.

Note: This is a reposting of the Legacy of the Red Sun Trilogy. I have taken down the other two sections and will re-edit and repost them here as a single story, since the trilogy should be read together. Since this is a repost, I will post fairly quickly—a new chapter every other day as time permits. The original of this fic was beta read by Jedi-2B from the theforce dot net Jedi Council Forums, which is an excellent repository of Star Wars fan fics. It is a limited crossover with Smallville only in the sense that the Kal El in this story was based on Tom Welling's character from Smallville. However, no other Smallville characters will arrive. There will be other characters from Superman's backstory, with some elements taken from the movies as well.

The original story was rated T. However, this original rating was a mistake since there there are brief moments of graphic violence and at least one sex scene in the third part that has led me to reclassify it as M.

Disclaimer: Lucas owns all, except Superman. DC owns him. This story was written for my personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of any friends who wish to read.

* * *

**Part One: Legacy of the Red Sun**

**Chapter One: While the Wind Blew**

This was not how it was supposed to be.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, once a Jedi master and general of the Clone Wars, stood with tears streaming openly down his grizzled, bearded face as the sand and wind howled around his cloak and hood.

He knelt down by the mound of stone-covered sand and placed a hand on the capstone that would slow the erosion from the wind. No, this was not how it was supposed to be. Amidst all the darkness they had faced, all the tragedy and pain he and Yoda had suffered, there had always been this one gleaming beacon of hope.

He looked up at the other mounds. He had never been close to Owen Lars, but for Beru Obi-Wan always held a soft spot in his heart. She smiled at him whenever he snuck by to check on the boy, and for the first two months there, as he struggled to learn the rote of living on Tatooine, she had provided much needed food and shelter.

Now they, like the beacon that had been Luke Skywalker, lay under a mound of dirt and stone while the wind howled in maniacal triumph around them. Luke Skywalker, the last hope for the Jedi, was dead.

He died, of all things, in a speeder accident.

Some part of Ben wanted it to be a conspiracy. He wanted to find evidence of dark forces at work. He imagined the specter of Darth Vader reaching out to snuff out the life of his son, or the more facile, subtle and deadly embrace of the emperor trying to turn the young boy to darkness. Never in his life, though, would Ben have imagined Owen losing control and driving his speeder into a sandstone pillar.

The entire family was killed instantly, and it fell to Ben to bury them. It fell to Ben to carry the body of a four-year-old boy who had all the potential fate and the Force could pack into one beautiful child, and place him in the unforgiving void that was his grave. It fell to Ben to mourn not just the passing of three innocent lives, but also of the hopes of an entire galaxy. It fell to Ben to stand there now, weeping while the wind blew.

"I am sorry, Anakin," he whispered, though his voice was lost even to his own ears. Let the wind have the sound. It did not matter. They were words none should have heard anyway, not even the Force.

He turned from the graves, pulled his hood down, and began walking back to the Skywalker homestead while trying to figure out what to do next. Respectful of the former owners of the home, he prepared a small dinner from Beru's stores when he arrived and absently ate while he watched a local relay of the holonet.

The Empire had already shown its true colors in the bombardment of Caamas, and already opposition in the Imperial Senate was changing. Although the media reports were careful with their words, Obi-Wan knew enough to read between the lines at what was really happening. Opposition senators like Bail Organa kept their mouths shut and carried the party line, because all around them, those senators who did not vanished. Now was not the time for open rebellion—not yet, anyway.

"Leia," Obi-Wan whispered to himself.

He thought about going to Alderaan, but the Caamasi refugees had fled there, and tempers were too raw. Vader himself had gone to Alderaan just a few years back, and Obi-Wan could not risk being seen by his former apprentice. If he were, it might raise questions regarding the mysterious origins of Bail's four-year-old daughter.

Filled with a despair he had felt only once, four years prior as he walked away from the man he had raised and loved as both son and brother, Ben flipped off the feed and wandered aimlessly through the house, as if seeking answers from the empty walls.

He heard no voices, nor direction in the Force. He felt nothing but emptiness. It was with that sense of emptiness that Ben entered Luke's room and let himself down on the bed that young Luke had slept in for the four years of his life. It was an old hand-me-down bed, probably one slept on by Owen himself as a child. It had the musk of both man and child, and was filled with memories of dreams long past.

Ben turned on his side, closed his eyes, and wept himself to sleep.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Obi-Wan could not say how long he slept, or precisely what woke him. It might have been the howling of the wind outside, or perhaps a nearby crash. No, he thought, it must have been the braying of the sandpeople. Sandpeople, he noted with sudden alarm, who were very close to this home.

He picked himself up and ran out of Luke's room with his lightsaber in hand. What he heard next sounded incredulous to his ears: it was the sound of a gaffi rifle going off, followed by the angry cries of a human child.

Obi-Wan rushed outside and pulled his hood up over his face to ward off the sand storm. The two moons were obscured by the storm, throwing the night into an awkward blue hue without actually providing any light. It was the Force that Obi-Wan followed, lending direction to the sound of the child's crying and the guns going off.

When he arrived, he could believe neither what his eyes beheld nor what the Force told him. Who would believe that even Tusken raiders would be so cruel as to shoot a human child at point blank range again and again? Who would believe that the bullets from such shots would knock the child over and bruise him, but not penetrate?

The child's apparent unwillingness to die threw the Sandpeople into a fit as they rushed forward, swinging their oversized, archaic rifles and clubs. One hit the child square in the face and caused another angry, hurt cry. The second also came down, only to be caught and yanked away by a meaty, infant fist.

The Sandpeople backed away, stunned.

Obi-Wan, also stunned, recovered more quickly. He cupped both hands to his mouth and let out the hair-raising cry of a krayt dragon. Using the Force to augment his voice, the sound shocked the sandpeople out of their confusion and sent them scrambling toward their banthas.

Only then did Obi-Wan dare approach the child, who was now on his side crying in genuine pain. In the darkened, stormy night, it was difficult for Obi-Wan to make out any details, other than the child was either acting younger than his years, or was large for his age. In any event, he was naked save for a red baby blanket with an odd serpentine script or monogram on it that Ben had never seen wrapped around his meaty legs.

The baby saw the old Jedi and began crying in real need, pulling himself up into a sitting position while reaching out for the only comfort he could imagine. Obi-Wan responded in the only way he could, and reached in return. He lifted the child in his arms, wrapped him in his robes, and returned to the Lars homestead.

Once inside, Obi-Wan found Beru's old rocking chair and sat down with a reading lamp nearby to illuminate his discovery. The child was stunningly beautiful, with perfectly proportioned features, thick black hair and eyes so blue they seemed almost cosmetic, as if someone had fitted the infant with contact lenses. His arms and legs were thick with baby fat, and he looked in all like a perfectly healthy child.

Healthy, that is, save for the bruises. Obi-Wan traced a line of black bruises running across the baby's chest where the sandpeople had shot him, and the boy had a blackened eye and a cut on his cheek where he had been clubbed.

Even as Ben watched, though, the bruises on his chest were fading, and the cut on his cheek was sealing itself.

For the first time since finding the child, Obi-Wan opened himself to the Force, and gasped. Never had he sensed anything like the child in his lap. The baby shone like a beacon in the Force, more fiercely and brightly than anything he had ever encountered or even heard of. Not even Anakin had glowed like this baby. And, opened there to the Force, Obi-Wan felt the questing thoughts of another; a dark, evil presence that also sensed the beacon of Force energy and sought it out.

Thinking fast, Obi-Wan placed his hand on the baby's forehead, and as he had with Luke and Leia, shrouded the Force presence of the baby. The questing presence reached, failed to grasp its target, and then faded back into the Force.

Sighing with relief, Obi-Wan looked down at the baby. He estimated it was eight months to a year old, standard time. It looked back at him, no longer crying; no longer bruised.

"What are you, my boy?"

The boy grinned and leaned forward, wrapping Ben in a hug.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

The next day the baby woke Obi-Wan by rolling until its back was against the adobe wall of Luke's room and stretching.

The stretching itself should not have woken the tired Jedi from his sound sleep. What woke him was the hard kick in his back that sent him sprawling onto the floor. Instinctively Obi-Wan leaped to his feet with his sword ready, only to see a pair of sleepy blue eyes regarding him. The eyes widened when the boy saw the sword, and he cooed.

"Ooonana!" the boy said, reaching.

"Yes, to be sure," Obi-Wan said with a touch of wry humor. He deactivated his blade, hung it back on his belt, and then rubbed at the sore spot on his back. This would be the last time he shared a bed with that particular child. "Well, boy, it appears you are stuck with me for the time being. Let's see what Beru has to feed us."

He found a bowl of sweetened grain nuggets and Luke's old booster seat. He had the baby sit up at the table with a bowl of the nuggets and a glass of blue milk while he fixed himself a cup of caf. The baby cooed as he began shoving fistfuls of food into his mouth.

A moment later Obi-Wan looked back in alarm at the sudden silence. He saw the baby staring at him with a look of intense concentration, and a second later the child did what babies do, and did so with a gusto that left the chair and floor thoroughly soaked. "Oh my," the old Jedi said.

With a grimace, Obi-Wan cleaned up the mess, and then took the stinking child to the fresher to do the same. There were no diapers in the house, so Ben did his best swaddling the child in a towel. Then they stepped outside into the searing Tattooine morning. The cold had long since burned away, and already the sand dunes were starting to shimmer with heat.

Obi-Wan carried the boy toward the spot where he had found him, and it did not take long to find the boy's ship. It was the size of a capitol ship escape pod, but one of a completely alien design. It was blackened from entry into the planet's atmosphere so obviously did not have any type of particle or ray shielding, but Obi-Wan could see where it had originally been spiked like a decorative star. Rather than open with a traditional hatch, the whole craft had broken in half, exposing a ring of beautiful white crystals and one green one.

"Very interesting," Obi-Wan whispered. He held out his hand, still leery of the ship, and summoned the green crystal with the Force. He held it a moment and felt within it vast, unbelievable amounts of knowledge. It was, he had no doubt, a data crystal of some kind.

"Well, my young friend, I do not believe this is a very safe place for us any more. We had better leave as soon as possible."

"Lalabababaaa!" the boy said, grinning as he reached for Ben's beard.

"Indeed," Obi-Wan agreed.

It did not take long for Obi-Wan to gather his things, since he had few things to gather. What he did have, however, was money. Just after the purge, while on Bail Organa's ship, Obi-Wan transferred credits from the various Jedi temple accounts shortly before Palpatine's agents froze all Temple assets. It had taken almost a month to safely route the funds from one hidden account to the other, until he had finally been able to get a credit disk transferred to Chantori, where he picked it up personally before coming back to the desert world that served as his home for the past four years.

Now that disk would be his only hope of escape from agents he knew would be arriving shortly. Though the emperor had not found the boy, Obi-Wan knew he would not stop looking.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Three days later, a lone figure strode through the abandoned complex of the Lars farmstead. A line of Imperial stormtroopers, many of them clones from the wars just four years past, stood at perfect attention. The shuttle gleamed with the light of the setting suns.

The figure did not speak as he moved through the buildings, through each room. Black gloved hands touched walls and cabinetry as if he could still feel anything. The stone and adobe walls absorbed the sound of his mechanical breathing, maintaining the silence of the place. The figure noticed the booster chair left in the seat. He noticed the emptied stores. He noticed the little boy's bedroom filled with toys, many of which appeared old and second-hand. He stood for an especially long time in the doorway to that room, staring at the room as if he recognized or saw something no one else could see. The only sound was the _uhhh-burrr_ of a respirator.

Finally, the black armored creature, the cyborg monstrosity known as Darth Vader, turned and left the house, walking ponderously up the steps from the sunken courtyard. He strode across the rock and sand until he came to the graves. He found five of them, one of which he himself had dug a lifetime ago. He ignored the newer marker for Cliegg Lars and instead stared at the marker for Shmi Skywalker with the same silence with which he had walked through the home.

Then his mask turned toward the new mounds, and the words burned into the simple stone markers. He read the first two with interest.

**Here Lies Owen Lars, Beloved Husband**

**Here Lies Beru Lars, Beloved Wife.**

Then his hidden eyes fell on the third marker, larger to accommodate the longer message.

**Here lies Luke Skywalker, age four,**

**son of Senator Padme Amidala**

**and Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight,**

**and the greatest hope for the Light.**

**With his death, so too dies our hope for a better tomorrow,**

**and the last legacy of all that was good in his father.**

The stormtroopers watched with interest as their master, the Dark Lord of the Sith and apprentice to the new Emperor himself, knelt in the sand with a sound that even through the vocorder of his mask sounded like a groan of unbearable agony.

A trooper rushed forward. "M'lord, are you injured?"

Vader rose, and with a terrifying roar slammed his fist into the chest of the trooper. The blow, strengthened by rage, the Force, and cybernetics, sent the already dead man's body flailing through the air to crash into sand meters away. The other troopers remained passive and at attention.

Darth Vader marched to the shuttle and the troopers mutely fell in behind him, leaving the fallen trooper where he lay.

An hour later, an Imperial class star destroyer opened up with all turbolaser batteries on the surface of the planet. With only a single ship, it took almost three hours, but by the time Darth Vader left Tattooine, the entire surface of the planet had been slagged into glass, along with all those who lived and died there.


	2. Paradise in a Smile

**Chapter Two: Paradise In a Smile**

_Fourteen Years Later…_

"Mother, Kale is jumping off the cliff!"

Sola Naberrie scrambled to her feet as her eyes automatically sought the top of the cliff lining the beach where they had picnicked that day. Just as Ryoo had said, when she looked up from her position on the sandy beach she could see the teenager standing on the very edge of the five hundred foot cliff, his arms held out to either side, his body already swinging forward.

"Kale!" she screamed as her son began falling.

Her husband Darred was also on his feet and running toward the edge of the cliff, Sola and her daughters Pooja and Ryoo right behind him. They heard the loud thud of their son's body impacting the sand and rock of the beach, and pushed themselves even harder. They crested a dune of sand just in time to see Kale picking himself up from the ground and dusting himself off. He wore a large, silly grin. His pure black hair was also sandy, and he had sand around his face where he had fallen, but otherwise he was unharmed.

The ground, however, could not claim the same. There was a crater almost ten centimeters deep where he had landed.

"Kale, we told you not to do that!" Darred said. "What if someone had seen you!"

"There's no one around, Dad," Kale said. "I checked. Promise."

The worse thing was they knew he meant it. Kale did not lie well. His poor lying did not stop him from trying on occasion, but he simply could not look a loved one in the face while lying, and all of them knew that when he wanted to really check his surroundings out, he could do so with a vision beyond even that of the most acute visual aids.

"Well, just be more careful in public, will you?"

Kale, who at fifteen was already taller than Darred, and in fact everyone in his school including faculty, laughed, and then swept all four of them into a hug. "You got it, Dad! What's for lunch, I'm starving!"

"We're here celebrating Pooja, Kale, not your stomach," Ryoo said.

"Every meal is a celebration of my stomach," Kale said with an irresistible grin. Ryoo snorted in exasperation even as she let her much younger brother put his arm around her shoulder. Then he snagged Senator Pooja Naberrie in the other arm. "It's too bad everyone knows we're family," he said to the air. "Every guy in school would die of jealously if they saw me holding the two most beautiful ladies on Naboo!"

"Flattery will get you everywhere, little brother," Pooja said. She and the rest smiled, unable to stay mad at Kale no matter how hard they tried, or how much he deserved it—and he frequently did.

They settled down to a luscious meal in a setting of pure paradise. The waves of the blue lake broke with peaceful music against the shore, while the forest above them cackled and sang with the natural fauna. The sky overhead held a few pearls of cloud that merely made the blue expanse even lovelier. It was, Kale thought, a perfect day.

Naturally, Ben had to show up to ruin it.

The old Jedi came strolling up along the coast in Naboo trousers and a loose fitting shirt. He still looked strong despite the gray in his hair and beard, as if the gentle climes of Naboo fit him perfectly. Darred was the first to see him, and Kale knew it was Ben as much because of his father's expression of disappointment as for anything else.

"Hello, Ben," Darred said.

"Hello, my friend," Ben said. "Sola, you look as lovely as always."

"Thank you, Ben."

Pooja and Ryoo had also stood, and Kale reluctantly followed. Ben bowed deeply to Pooja. "Senator. I understand congratulations are in order. I read you successfully passed legislation easing the franchise tax for Naboo exports."

"Thank you, Ben. It was a great day for Naboo."

Ben nodded and smiled kindly to Ryoo, and then finally locked eyes on Kale. "You did not check the area out as thoroughly as you thought, Kale. Not only did I see you fall, I was close enough to hear what you said afterward."

When Kale blushed, it looked like a red star going nova in his cheeks. "So much for a great day," he muttered.

Ben's expression blanked. "We need to talk, Kale. Darred, Sola, I'm so sorry to intrude. I hope you will excuse us."

The two men walked away from the Naberries along the edge of the water. "Do I really bother you that badly, Kale?"

Kale looked up at Ben, then out at the water. "No. I'm sorry I said that. It's just, whenever you appear it's because of something bad happening."

"So you blame the messenger and not the message?"

Kale shrugged. "What is it this time?"

"Something bad, of course." It prompted a smile, but a short-lived one. "I've received word from my contacts that the Emperor is in the final stages of finishing his new super weapon. It should be fully operational within the next six months."

"What's this got to do with me?"

"Not much, to be honest. It has more to do with me. But because I am who I am, and because of your connection to me, you may be in danger. And because of that, I want to continue your training."

Kale shook his head, reached down and lifted a piece of Naboo granite the size of Ben's first. He closed his fist, and reduced the rock to sand with a loud pop. "I don't need to be a Jedi to defend myself."

"Brute force without guidance is nothing more than brute force. But with the guidance of the Force, it will be true power. The Force brought you to me for a reason those many years ago, Kale. You arrived just days after the death of a boy whom we had always hoped would be the savior of the Jedi. That can't be just coincidence."

Kale looked out over the lake. "You're going to take it all away from me, aren't you? This place. My family."

Ben put a hand on the boy's shoulder, surprised by the fact he had to reach up to do so. "Kale, the only thing that never changes is change itself. This was a refuge for you, and will continue to be so for the time being. I knew the Naberries would accept you for who you were, and give you the moral foundations you would need. But you must understand that this was never going to be your home forever."

"I know."

Ben nodded in recognition of the pain he heard in Kale's voice. "Nothing has to happen today, though. Go back and be with your family. And tomorrow, after your school work, we will begin."

With that, Ben turned and strode purposefully away, leaving Kale alone. The boy bent over, lifted another stone, and stared at it. He turned to the water and threw the stone. It did not skip along the surface. It furrowed into the water for twenty meters and caused a wave that carried visibly across the surface all the way to the far side of the lake two kilometers away.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"So, Kale, who's the new girl?" Darde asked in astrophysics.

Kale shrugged and let his eyes lock on the fiery red hair and porcelain pale skin of the new girl. "I heard her name was Arica."

Kale had heard a great deal more about the new girl than he was willing to admit. Arica Soonda was the daughter of the new Imperial liaison to the Queen. She came from Coruscant and wore the newest fashions from the Core, leaving all the other girls in the school scrambling for holonet orders to get new clothes. Even more than clothes, though, her red hair and bright green eyes stood out among the crowd at the Theed Royal Academy.

Those males who first noticed her hair were then quickly entranced by her lithe figure and graceful movements. "She moves like a dancer," one mildly jealous girlfriend admitted. Arica was, according to the general consensus of males (and more than a handful of females) the most beautiful girl not just in the school, but in all of Theed. And for a race of people known throughout the galaxy as beautiful, that was truly saying something.

Kale found this out from his friends in the admissions office the first day she arrived, and spent the next two days watching her every chance he could. She was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

Darde thought so too. "So, are you going to make a move on her?"

Kale felt his cheeks flushing. "She's a fourth year, I'm only a second year. I can't imagine she'd be interested in me."

Darde shrugged. "You're a second year in a fourth year astrophysics class, Kale. And you look more like a man than our teacher." Which was true, if only for the fact the professor was a Mon Cal visiting professor.

Kale shook his head. "She's too…I don't know." He wanted to say she was too beautiful. Hers was the kind of beauty to make other men jealous, and Kale naturally shied away from such strong emotion. He knew that if he ever truly lost his temper, he could seriously hurt someone. If he let himself fall for her, he had no doubt she would play with him because he was too young and inexperienced for her. And when she found someone new, he would become jealous, lose control and smash anyone even looking at her into a pulp that…

"Kale!"

Kale shook himself out of his reverie and then realized that Professor Sinhalg was calling on him. "Cronau radiation?" he blurted.

The Mon Cal blinked his massive eyes. "Either you are capable of listening with your face to the stars, or that was the most remarkably lucky guess ever, but you are correct."

The rest of the class chuckled, and as Kale smiled with an embarrassed blush, he realized that Arica was staring at him appraisingly. Before she turned her attention back to the professor, she smiled.

Kale gripped his desk so hard he heard a crack and looked down in horror to realize he had broken the edge of the desk. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed and saw Darde grinning. No one else, though, had saw with relief.

Finally, class ended and Kale managed to get out as fast as he could before Professor Sinhalg or anyone else noticed the hand-sized indentation in the duraplast desk surface. At his locker, Darde caught up to him grinning wildly. "I saw her look."

"She's just playing with me, Darde."

Although a year older, Darde was a third of a meter shorter than Kale, with short-cropped black hair and caf-colored skin that made him the attention of many girls in the school, though his round chin made him look decidedly younger than his friend. He told himself and Kale and anyone who would listen that the rounding was baby fat that would go away, but since his father and grandfather had the same round chin, most of his friends dismissed the claim.

"Whatever makes you feel better at night, Kale," Darde said with a knowing laugh. "But last time I saw a smile like that on a woman's face she was my sister looking at her boyfriend, and she got married six months later. She had a baby three months after that."

Kale laughed. "Yeah, she didn't waste time, did she?"

"One more thing, my foolish friend. If that smile wasn't real, why would she be coming this way?"

"Oh gods, is she?" Kale said, suddenly horrified. Darde chuckled as Kale struggled to get his holopad stored with his training clothes in the small locker. He fumbled and dropped his socks and one shoe before he got everything in just as Arica Soonda sauntered by.

"Hello," she said with a winsome smile.

Kale slammed his locker shut with sufficient force to bend it, then leaned against it with his cheeks flaring the color of a dying sun.

Beside him, Darde took the lead while openly admiring the young woman. "Good afternoon," he said pleasantly. "My name is Darde Hollistan. This blushing young man is Kale Naberrie. You must be Arica."

Arica grinned. "I am. It's nice to meet you, Darde." Her eyes passed by the smaller student to the much larger one. "And you too, Kale."

"Uhh, thank you."

"Are you related to Senator Naberrie?"

Kale grasped onto the safer line of conversation desperately. "Yes! Yes. She's my sister, Pooja."

"How wonderful that must be," Arica said, her eyes seemingly far away. "She is an amazing woman, just like your Aunt was." She blinked and returned to present company. "I heard there was a monument to Senator Amidala, but I haven't been able to find it."

She waited for the appropriate response. Kale stared, totally entranced by the way her eyes sparkled; by the dimples at the base of her cheeks where the creases of her mouth ended; by the perfectly smooth, flawless skin made both pale and luminous by the strands of bright red hair that had escaped her headdress and fell in tresses beside her eyes.

Darde elbowed him. "Uhhh, I can show you!" Kale finally said. "I mean, she was my aunt. I've been there lots of times." Lots of times meant twice, both times at his mother's insistence.

"That would be really nice," Arica said. She leaned up and, rising on the tips of her toes, lightly kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much. I have a speeder if you want to meet after school out in front."

"Okay," Kale said, now too stunned by the light kiss on his cheek to be nervous.

"I'll see you then," she said with a bright smile to both. She turned and walked down the hall, and Kale and Darde both watched her every step.

"She is beautiful," Kale whispered.

"That she is, my friend," Darde said with a wistful smile. "And she evidently has a thing for tall, gangly fools who can break desks barehanded." Kale stuttered as his friend put a hand on his shoulder. "Just a word of advice, Kale. Try not to break her car. Or her. Or your Aunt's monument."

Kale couldn't help but laugh. He had known Darde his whole life, and had no secrets left. "I'll try not to."

"Great. Now that you appear to have a date, think you could hook me up with Ryoo?"

"She's twelve years older than you, and has already said no. Three times."

"Four, actually. But hope springs eternal, my friend."

All thought of his appointment with Ben that afternoon evaporated from Kale's brain like so much water under a bridge. When faced with the choice of spending time with the most beautiful woman in an entire sector, or with a cantankerous old Jedi who wanted to work him ragged, Kale didn't even expend conscious thought on the decision.

That afternoon, as Ben waited anxiously in a clearing near the Naberrie household, Arica Soonda picked Kale up in a very expensive air car on the front curb of his school.

Kale noticed the stares and glares from many of the other students, and one contagious grin from a certain friend of his. As he climbed in, he admired the vehicle. "This is a really nice speeder," he said.

Arica giggled. "Do you really think so? I think Daddy got it to make up for dragging me away from Coruscant."

They lifted off the ground and Kale felt his stomach twist a little as they shot off into the air. He pointed toward the square where his aunt's monument had been built and she easily followed his directions. "So did you grow up on Coruscant?" he said.

"No, I was originally from Sullust. Dad worked for SoroSub before joining the military. That's when we moved to Coruscant. I was ten, so I might as well have been from there."

"Are you sad you came here?"

She looked at him and smiled. The expression lit up her face, as if the angels of the moons of Iego were reflecting the light of heaven itself from their wings onto her. It caught Kale's breath in his chest, and made his heart thud so strongly for a moment he feared she would hear it. When she spoke, it was as if she were an angel as well. "I was. But I'm beginning to appreciate it a little more."

They arrived at the monument and she brought the car down to the street level with such graceful ease she appeared not to even think about it. Once grounded, she drove the car on its repulsors under some tall evergreen trees that ringed the statue. Around them, the Naboo and an occasional Gungan walked peacefully about their affairs, with more than a few pausing by the statue. Although Kale had never noticed, sitting now beside this beautiful young woman who stared at the statue with obvious respect, he saw for the first time how people would occasionally stop and touch the right foot of the statute.

"She was so beautiful," Arica said. "I read about her in history class, how she almost single-handedly stopped an invasion of Naboo a few years before the Clone Wars began. She was only a teenager. Isn't that amazing?"

It was amazing, and Kale knew it. His entire life he had heard the legend of his Aunt Padmé. When she was at the age he was now, his aunt was not only elected queen of the Naboo, but through sheer willpower and the assistance of two Jedi, almost single-handedly defeated the Trade Federation's attempted invasion.

It was ancient history to Kale, something belonging to another time and place than his world. And yet, as he and Arica stepped out of the car and she walked up to pay her own respects by touching the foot of the statue like the others, Kale realized it was not such ancient history. His mother remembered how scared she was when the Trade Federation droids came and forced them from their homes in the middle of the night.

"_I hope you never know fear like that, Kale," she told him a few years ago, when she recounted her own story of the invasion for the first time._

"She was a remarkable woman," Arica said as the two stepped back. "Her career as senator was almost as remarkable as her term as queen. Did you know the Naboo tried to amend their constitution to elect her for another term after her limit expired?"

"Yeah."

Arica blushed herself and then laughed. "I suppose you would know that, wouldn't you?" She began strolling around the reflection pool that formed a circular base to the statue. A few steps behind the statue, the park suddenly dipped into a wide sunken amphitheater flanked on either side by stone steps and a sidewalk. At the center of the amphitheater was a waterfall with the queen's statue at the top. At the base of the waterfall were three life-sized granite statues of the Naboo fighters that fought in the defense of the planet. And on a pedestal underneath one of the ships was the figure of a little boy wearing distinctly foreign clothes.

The two walked down the steps, and Arica stared at the statue. "Who is that boy?"

"That's Anakin Skywalker," Kale said.

"The Jedi Skywalker?"

"Yes. Supposedly he befriended Queen Amidala either on the way to or at Coruscant, and was with her and her Jedi guardians when she returned. Somehow he got himself stuck in a Starfighter during the counter-attack, launched into the battle, and single-handedly destroyed the droid control ship of the Trade Federation. I think he was nine or so."

Arica stared, and for a moment her expression changed from the luminous beauty of a young girl to something less luminous, and more calculating. However, the change lasted only a heartbeat. "Anakin Skywalker. The hero of the Clone Wars. He started early in the hero business, didn't he? And he was a friend of the Queen? Amazing."

She looked around, admiring the park. Overhead, a few puffs of clouds made the perfect sky even more so, while the sound of water splashing over the statues gave the air itself the feeling of a symphony. "This place is just so wonderful," she said as she sat against the railing of the pool. Kale settled in beside her.

"Don't they have places like this on Coruscant?"

"Not like this," Arica said. "Not this peaceful. Everyone is always rushing; always in a hurry. And there are so many people, Kale. I don't think you could ever really understand what it means to live so close to so many people until you've done it. The house my Daddy and I live in here would cost a fortune on Coruscant. Sector Senators can't even afford that much space. And all the wonderful, living green spaces. I've never seen anyplace so beautiful."

Kale watched her as she spoke; entranced with her lips and the subtle way they moved. "Coruscant couldn't have been that bad," he said. "At least, not until you moved away."

Arica turned and stared with wide eyes. "Kale Naberrie, was that a compliment?"

Kale blinked. "Uh, I didn't mean…"

She leaned over and kissed him. His breath stopped at the dreaded, wonderful feel of her lips on his, of the feel of her hair caressing his cheeks as they fell over her eyes. In his mind, something _clicked_ and fell into place that I never realized existed. As she backed away, smiling, he found himself smiling back while his heart soared.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "I liked it. And I like you, Kale. Thank you for coming with me."

"You're welcome," he said, stunned and ecstatic and terrified and… "You are so beautiful."

Her smile literally stopped his heart. When it started again, he could barely breathe. She leaned forward and kissed him again, and this time he risked an arm around her shoulder. She felt so warm, so strong and alive!

"You're not bad looking yourself, Kale Naberrie," she whispered into his ear.

A nearby tower commemorating the victims of the invasion began tolling its bell to mark the passage of yet another hour. "Wow, is it really that late?" She stood, looking both panicked and mildly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I promised Dad I would meet him ten minutes ago! He's going to kill me!"

"Go ahead and go," Kale said. "My house isn't far away and it's a beautiful day; I don't mind walking."

She jumped and wrapped both arms around his neck, easily hanging from him and she kissed him on the lips. "Thank you! Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I hope to gods yes," Kale said.

She laughed easily and freely, kissed him one more time, and then started sprinting up the steps much faster than any other girl he knew. When she was gone, he pulled out his pocket comm and dialed Darde. As soon as Darde answered and saw his friend's expression, he grinned. "You didn't!"

"She did," Kale said. "She kissed me first. And more than once."

"Yeah, that'd be the only way it happened," Darde said with a laugh. "The girl would have to make the first move. My friend, you have no idea how lucky you are."

"No, I think I do," Kale said, as an image of Arica solidified in his mind. He did not fully understand it, nor would anyone not of Kryptonian ancestry, but at that moment Kale's future was set.


	3. Red Haired Angel

**Chapter Three: Red Haired Angel**

"Kale, you have no idea how much danger you're in," Ben said.

The Jedi stood with his arms crossed and his eyes flashing angrily down at where Kale sat. When he got home, his mother icily reminded him of his early appointment with Ben, and he had rushed to the clearing to find the Jedi waiting with less than his usual patience.

"I know, Ben. I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't always enough, Kale." It was amazing, Kale thought, how scathing Ben's words could be even while his voice sounded calm and patient. "I have to know your heart is in this. If you are going to really begin training, you have to do so with your whole being. You're already old to begin with."

Kale nodded, but Ben didn't believe it, and said as much. "For instance, your mind was nowhere near here just then," the Jedi pointed.

Kale shrugged and blushed. "I'm sorry, Ben. I really am. It's just…something wonderful happened today, and I'm having a hard time not thinking about it."

"Something wonderful?"

"Someone wonderful."

Ben rolled his eyes and sat on a boulder nearby while overhead the evergreens whistled in the wind as if laughing. "A girl," Ben said, shaking his head. "Of course. Perfect. Just perfect. Of all the times you could have decided to give in to your raging hormones, why did it have to be on the verge of galactic civil war?"

That last caught Kale's attention. "Civil war?"

"Kale, what do you think I've been talking about all this time? I am a part of the rebellion, at least insofar as I've been a part of anything since I found you. The Rebel Alliance contacted me a few days ago to request my aid. But the act of contacting me has placed me in danger, and possibly you as well. That's why it is so very important for you to start your training."

Kale nodded soberly, for the moment dismissing thoughts of Arica. He was too young to remember the slaughter of Queen Apailana at Theed Palace, but it was not so long ago that the scars had completely been erased. In fact, Queen Kylantha purposely refused to repair the damage in the palace from the Fall of Naboo, including the blaster holes in the floor where her predecessor Queen Apailana had been killed.

"I think I understand, Ben. What do you want to do first?"

"First, we learn to control that significant strength of yours."

That night, after four straight hours of training by Ben, Kale walked into his home and began raiding the pantry. He pulled out enough food to feed the family twice over and began preparing a sandwich the size of a newborn Gungan.

"Hello, son," a voice said.

Kale dropped his sandwich, but then caught it before it traveled ten centimeters, as his mother walked in and sat down at the table. He gulped, then grinned and nodded to his snack. "I was hungry."

"I noticed," his mom said with an indulgent smile. "How did your time with Ben go?"

"He was really mad at me for being late, but I think he felt better after we were done. I really am trying."

She reached across and touched his arm lovingly and smiled despite herself as he managed to stuff a fistful of food in his mouth. What was more amazing was the fact it really didn't look like that large of a bite in comparison to the rest of him. "Kale, a good friend of mine saw you today at my sister's monument. She said you were with a young woman, and that you were kissing."

Kale put the sandwich down and realized his cheeks were radiating enough heat to melt nerf cheese. "Uhh, Mom…."

"From what I understand, she was a very beautiful young woman. Can you tell me her name?"

"Arica. Arica Soonda."

"The new Imperial Liaison's daughter," Sola noted in a suddenly neutral fashion. "How old is she, Kale?"

"She's a fourth year, so she's probably seventeen or eighteen," Kale said.

"And you're only fifteen."

Kale nodded, realizing where his mother was going. "She…she's really neat, Mom. I think you'd like her. She really liked visiting the monument. She had read all about Aunt Padmé and knew all sorts of stuff about her."

Sola nodded and settled back in her chair. "I wonder if that's why she singled you out."

"What do you mean?"

"You're a Naberrie, the son of Queen Amidala's sister. Perhaps her worship of my sister was so strong she felt a need to be close to a family member. It's happened before, with girls who identify with her, and boys who developed crushes on her. Pooja was propositioned all the time in finishing school by complete strangers who loved her for her name."

Kale sat thinking, realizing what his mother was trying to say. "You mean she couldn't possibly like me because of me, right?"

"Kale, that's not what I said."

"But it's what you think," Kale said, too hurt to be angry yet.

His mother put a hand on his arm. "My son, I don't doubt for a moment she is attracted to you. You are as handsome a man as any I have ever seen, and I have seen many of the girls around here staring at you. Please don't ever think otherwise. I just want to…I'm your mother. It's my instinct to protect you from everything, especially the truly dangerous things."

"Like girls."

"Yes."

"And what about Pooja or Ryoo, do you protect them from boys?"

"No, that's Darred's job," Sola said with a laugh. She leaned forward and hugged her boy. "Kale, you are special. And not just because of your abilities. You are our son, by adoption and in our hearts. We love you very much. All I ask is that with this new friend of yours, you go slow and be sure."

"I will, Mom. I love you too."

She kissed his cheek and stood to go to bed. "Oh, and Kale?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"If you do go on another excursion with this young lady, don't go anyplace where your grandmother will see you. She almost had a heart attack."

"You mean that was…"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Indeed. And also, one other thing. If you happen to go with your young friend anywhere, try not to break anything. You know, like her car, or her?"

Kale snorted. "Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, dear."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Beautiful redhead on approach," Darde said with a nod. Kale turned and saw Arica walking toward him with a happy smile.

"Good morning!" she said as she leaned up and gently pecked him on the cheek. "Good morning, Darde."

"Arica," Darde said with a laugh. "I'll see you later, Kale."

When he was gone, Arica held her pad to her chest and smiled. "I had a really good time last night."

"I did too," Kale said. "I hope your Dad wasn't too mad at you?"

"Nah, I kissed his cheek and he forgot about it. Amazing what that can do."

"Tell me about it."

She laughed and kissed his cheek to reinforce the message. "You betchya! So what are you doing for lunch?"

"Cafeteria."

"Eck. We can do better than that. I have transportation, remember? And an open campus. That is definitely something Naboo has over Coruscant. Daddy took me to a great Gungan seafood place by the lake last night."

"Yeah, Hay-Dar's Place."

"You want to come?"

"Sure!"

The entire morning, Kale dreamed of Arica. When lunch finally came and he walked out the front, he half expected her not to be there. It seemed almost too good to be true when she was. He climbed in and she kissed his cheek again as they headed out for lunch.

That afternoon, he dreamed of Arica, and the saldik sandwich with Gungan fire sauce and chips, but mostly Arica. During the break before the last class of the day, Darde tapped him on the shoulder. "Naboo to Kale, anyone home?"

"Hey, Darde. How are you?"

"Lonely. My best friend's been girl-knapped."

Kale grinned. "You have no idea."

"You really like her?"

"She's amazing," he breathed. "It's only been two days, and I just can't stop thinking about her. She's so…perfect. I think I'm in love with her!"

"I think you're in lust with her, which is pretty nice too," Darde said. "Just don't forget those of us who don't have red hair and green eyes and a really nice butt."

"Oh, I don't know, Darde. I think your butt's kinda cute."

"Who's this with the cute butt?" Arica's voice asked from behind them. "Should I be jealous?"

"I was talking about Darde," Kale said. "Don't you think he has a cute butt?"

Arica grinned, walked up to the furiously blushing Darde, and gave a good round swat to his posterior, followed by a quick grope. Darde yelped in surprise. "Yeah, I'd say all in all it's a pretty cute butt."

"I'm sooo doomed," Darde muttered.

Darde's frown faded as Arica kissed him on a cheek. "Any friend of Kale's is a friend of mine," she told him. Then she grinned and turned to Kale. "And see what I mean about kisses? I have power, gentlemen. Never forget that."

Even Darde had to laugh at that. "Power indeed. Got my attention, anyway. Well, got to get to class. Be gentle with Kale."

"Yes, I'm sure he's fragile," Arica said.

"Yeah, fragile like durasteel." He laughed and moved on.

Arica looked puzzled. "That didn't really make sense."

Kale shrugged. "It's Darde. His humor is a bit odd sometimes. So, thanks again for lunch."

"It was all my pleasure," she said as she sidled closer, her eyes never leaving his face. "You could pay me back, though. You could take me to dinner tonight."

Once more, a quandary. Ben, or Arica. Old, mean Jedi. Beautiful young woman who enjoyed kissing him. Rebel Alliance and impending civil war. Beautiful young woman who enjoyed kissing him. "I would love to."

"Great! After school?"

"I'll be there."

When the last class ended and Kale left the school, he realized Arica probably skipped last period, because when she picked him up she had already changed from the black ensemble she wore in school, and now wore a glittering turquoise top and slimming black slacks. The top hung very low, and Kale had to exert a near-physical effort to keep from staring at her chest as he climbed into the convertible speeder.

"You look beautiful!"

She beamed and kissed him, but this time not on the cheeks. The kiss lingered for five heartbeats, and by the time she was done Kale would have killed for her. "That was pretty nice," he breathed.

"Yes it was," she whispered, staring up at him through her long, luscious lashes. "Are you hungry?"

"Oh yes."

She laughed. "Great, let's go eat!"

Arica flew them to a small nerfsteak restaurant on the edge of the falls by Theed Palace known for the quality of its meats, and an all-you-can-eat buffet. "You must have been reading my mind," he said when they set down by the restaurant. "This is my favorite place in the whole city."

"Great minds think alike," she said with a grin. She took his hand tightly in hers and led him inside. They arrived well before the main dinner-time rush, and so managed to procure a table on the balcony overlooking the falls of Theed River, and the palace overhanging them. The air was cool, moist and comfortable, and the plains below shimmered in the late afternoon sun.

"I think this is the most beautiful planet I've ever been on," she said.

"You make it sound like you've been on lots of planets."

"A few. My Daddy's in the military. I've traveled with him a lot. We just usually don't stay more than a week or two. Sometimes a month."

Kale nodded. "Have you ever been on a star destroyer?"

"Yes."

"What's it like?"

"Boring," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Everything is gray. I keep telling Daddy that if he wanted to boost morale, all he'd have to do is have the ships painted a different color. Gray this, black this. The Empire isn't big on color. Even the uniforms are boring."

Kale laughed, never having thought about it that way. Then he remembered his conversation with his mother the previous night. "My grandmother saw us at the monument last night."

Arica's smile faded a bit in alarm. "Is that bad?" She grabbed his hand in both of hers, and he found he loved the feel of her touch. "Kale, did you get in trouble because of me?"

"Not really," he lied. "My mother told me about it. I told her you were a very nice girl, and that she should trust me. I think Ben was angrier than she was."

"Ben, is that your father?"

Kale faltered a moment. "No, he's just a family friend. He's been trying to teach me...uh, the baliset. I'm afraid I don't quite have the hang of it yet."

"The baliset is a difficult instrument to play," Arica admitted. "Still, I'm sorry if I worried your family."

"I'm not. I don't regret a minute. It was one of the best days of my life." He was staring at her when he said it, and felt something inside melt at the way her cheeks colored and she looked at him, as if she couldn't pull her eyes away.

"For me too, Kale," she said, very softly. She was still holding his hand. Her hands seemed too small in his, though he noticed with amusement that she had calluses in odd places.

"What?" she said.

"I like your hands," he said, knowing his grin must have looked silly but not caring as he traced a finger over the palm of her hand. "You must work out a lot. I've only seen calluses like that on people who do lots of pull-ups or practice martial arts."

"Well, as a matter of fact," Arica said with a knowing smile, "I'm a level three Teras Kasi master."

"Wow. You're going to have to show me that some time."

She lifted his hand to her mouth and very artistically kissed his palm. "How 'bout now? I know a place we could go." She leaned forward over his hand, pressing down with her chest against the back of his fingers. "I think you'd really like my workout clothes."

His fingers tingled and he had to fight the urge to flex them. "I bet I would," he said. "Where ever you go, I'd love to follow."

As she stood and led Kale by the hand out of the restaurant, neither seemed to notice the non-descript man in non-descript clothes touch the back of his ear and quickly mouth something seemingly to himself.


	4. Somebody Save Me

**Chapter Four: Somebody Save Me**

"He's late again," Ben said. His charge's absence was so predictable he found it difficult to be angry.

Sola shrugged with a knowing smile as she handed him a cup of hot tea. She sat on the settee opposite him and sipped her own cup. "I've never seen him like this, Ben. He's so happy, even Mother had difficulty being upset when she saw them together yesterday."

"Really?" Ben said archly. "Tell me about this fascination of his. She must be remarkable."

"I've not met her yet, but Jobal said she was a beautiful young girl. From Coruscant, from what I understand. The Imperial Liaison's daughter. I…Ben, are you all right?"

Ben let the cup drop from his lips and stared at her with an open expression of horror. "Sola, Moff Soonda does not have a daughter. He has never been married. It is possible he has never been with a woman. He lives like a monk."

"But she said she was his daughter."

Ben put his cup down on the table between them. "Sola, can you tell me what she looks like?"

"Only what Jobal told me. Red hair. Green or blue eyes. Slim and athletic."

Ben closed his eyes a moment, trying to recall if the description meant anything to him. Suddenly he felt a surge in the Force and shot to his feet. "Sola, leave!"

"What?"

The front door exploded. Sola screamed as the concussion wave of the explosion threw her from her feet. Ben unthinkingly called her to him with the Force and fell with her to the floor as the shattered remnants of the door and the frame streaked by over their heads. Instantly he jumped back to his feet as two stormtroopers rushed in.

Ben's lightsaber flashed out, deflecting two bolts back to the chests of the shooters. Both men fell as another larger, darker figure entered the room. On the floor, Sola gasped and began crawling away. Ben, however, stood his ground.

"Master Kenobi," the Dark Lord's voice hissed with pleasure. "What a surprise to find you on Naboo. I see this planet agrees with you."

"I wish I could say the same for you, Vader, but every time you come here people die."

Vader turned his attention to Sola, who blanched before his masked visage. "No one else need die, Kenobi. Just tell me. Tell me about Luke."

Kenobi braced himself. "He died in a speeder accident."

"So she lived. She survived Mustafar, and you took her from me."

Sola stared from one figure to the other, realization dawning. "Padmé?" she whispered. "You're talking about Padmé!"

Invisible fingers grabbed her by the throat, lifting her from the debris-strewn floor and slamming her against the sitting-room wall. "Tell me what you know!" Vader demanded.

Ben took a step forward, but did not attack. "Isn't it enough that you killed Padmé, Vader?" he said softly, as he once spoke to his apprentice. "Do you have to kill her sister as well?"

Sola fell without warning to the floor as Vader turned the full force of his will against his former master. "Tell me," he said, threatening; pleading.

"He was born. I took him to Tattooine to live with Beru and Owen. He was happy. He was everything you should have been but weren't, and then he died. Owen swerved to avoid a womprat and slammed their speeder into a rock formation. It was an accident."

"An accident that would not have happened if he had been with his father," Vader growled.

"His father died long before then. Even before Mustafar. His father died when Darth Vader knelt before Palpatine and pledged himself to the Sith."

Vader moved forward, a basso growl emanating from his mask. He lit a crimson lightsaber as he did so. "There are so many reasons for me to kill you, Obi-Wan. It is difficult to choose just one."

"I'm sure you'll choose the wrong one. That's what you do." He struck first, springing forward with the steps of a much younger man. Vader caught the swing one-handed, and pushed the attack back easily, reminding both fighters that appearance and reality were two separate things. Obi-Wan was fifty-seven years old.

"Your powers have weakened, Old Man," Vader said. "Now I am the master."

"Only in your dreams, Darth," Ben said. He charged again, spinning quickly in an initial high-line swing that immediately dropped low. Vader caught both swings, but had to retreat a step before the attack.

Sola remained seated, aware somehow that she needed to run, but she could not. The words the two exchanged spoke of familiarity and buried passions. And they both knew Padmé.

"Oh dear gods," she whispered as she realized who it was behind the black mask. Always before it had been a mystery what had happened. The Senatorial couriers had delivered Padmé's body already prepared for the cremation ceremony, and it had appeared obvious she had been pregnant.

What neither man seemed to know, though, was that her sister had told Sola about the pregnancy and her marriage long before the Jedi ever knew. And she knew via a holonet call approximately two hours after Padmé knew herself that there were two children, not just one. Which meant if one was born and survived to childhood, there had to be a second.

Darth Vader, whom she met only once as Anakin Skywalker, did not realize it.

Vader sensed the sudden wave of emotion from Sola, as did Ben. "You will die today, Obi-Wan," Vader said. "But she does not need to. I will spare the Naberries if you cooperate. Resist me, and they all die."

Sola pushed herself to her feet and calmly set her jaw. She raised her chin and envisioned not the deadly black-suited monster before her, but the shy, confused teenager he once was. "Anakin Skywalker," she whispered. She took another step forward. "She loved you so much, Anakin. Was she so very wrong?"

Ben stilled and waited as Vader seemed to stand frozen like a statue. Sola's courage astounded the Jedi, and he had no doubt that she and the senator he once knew were related. He just wished that courage were enough.

"That name no longer has any meaning for me," Vader said at last as he straightened.

"Then you have no claim to Anakin Skywalker's children," Sola said.

Ben felt his stomach drop. "Sola, no!"

Vader stretched out a hand and with all the power he could muster sent Ben flying backward through a wall with a massive Force push. He turned his attention back to Sola, who stood quavering. "What did you say?" he whispered.

Sola blinked slowly. "I would tell Anakin Skywalker. But as you said, that name has no meaning for you."

Vader did not call on the Force. He reacted with instinct, reaching out with a cybernetic hand that encircled her neck. Sola cried out at the pressure he applied, but did not move. "You will tell me everything," he said, his whisper made serpentine and demonic by his mask, "or I will rip your mind apart memory by memory."

Sola realized then the depth of her mistake, and the mistake her sister had made in loving a man capable of such evil. "Padmé," she whispered. "If only you knew what your love has become."

Vader roared in rage and threw Sola across the room. He did not hear the snap of her neck before she even left his hand, nor did he notice how her body hit the wall with such velocity it broke the stone work and left her crumbled and misshapen in a lump at its base.

Vader burst through the hole Ben's body had made, but the Jedi was gone.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Arica flew with one hand, while the other rested on Kale's left thigh. Her touch felt as if it were burning him with a delicious heat. He wanted her hand to move up, but dared not say anything for fear of ruining the moment. As she flew, she occasionally looked across at him and smiled. The wind caught her fiery hair and tossed it about wildly. She looked elemental, as if a spirit or angel.

Finally they arrived at a nondescript block of a house outside of town, sitting amid an intrusion grid of laser beams. "What is this place?"

"It's an old Imperial relay station," Arica said with a grin as she landed inside the beams. "I wanted a private place to work out since Daddy has people coming in and out of our house all the time. He let me use it—it's very private." As she spoke, she leaned closer and closer to him, until by her last words their lips were rubbing against each other. She climbed over him until she was nearly straddling him, and kissed him so deeply he could not breathe.

He welcomed the suffocation and wrapped both arms around her back, pressing her closer. Finally their lips parted. "By the gods that was…."

"I know," Arica said. She wasn't grinning, but instead was looking at him with an intensity more frightening and exciting than any smile. "And I want more." She hopped over him and out of the car, and beckoned him to come. He jumped out immediately, let her take his hand, and followed her into the block of a building.

The lights came on and he confirmed they were alone. She wrapped her arms around his back, and he did the same, and she leaned up to kiss him deeply. "Kale, it's only been two days, but I feel like I've known you forever," she said.

"Me too," he said.

"That's why I'm actually sorry I have to do this," she continued.

"Do what?"

She kissed him again, slowly and with longing that made his whole body thrum. Suddenly she spun out of his grip, swung her leg around in a low sweep that removed his feet from under him, and put him on the ground. He hit without any pain and stared up at her in shock, but still he didn't realize what was happening. He thought maybe she was showing him her fighting skills before she wanted to kiss him more.

But as he looked up at her, she seemed like a different person. Gone were the soft smiles and gentle laughs. The graceful dancer-like steps had been replaced by the equally graceful prowling of a predator. It was as if she were a completely different person, one holding a very large blaster to his chest.

"I really am sorry, Kale," she said.

He stared into her eyes and saw through the cold exterior to a hint of that girl he kissed at the monument. "I believe you," he whispered.

She fired three times, twice in the chest, once in the head. She stepped back and took a large breath that ended in a sob. That was the end of it, though. She threw the blaster aside, straightened her stance, schooled her face, and stepped over the body of Kale Naberrie.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Ben ran through the streets of Naboo as fast as his feet would carry him. The Force flowed through him as he moved, easing the ache of old bones and muscles not accustomed to such exertion. He knew even with the Force as his ally he did not move as fast as he once did.

_He lost_! He lost a fight with his former padawan. It was the first lightsaber duel since Count Dooku that he lost, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. But that bitterness was nothing compared to the pain of losing yet another Naberrie friend to Darth Vader. With that bitterness stinging his mind, he ran with all the speed he could, across the city of Theed, to the planetary offices of Senator Pooja Naberrie.

Her two secretaries stood in surprise as the dirtied and battered old man flew by them. Her security contingent began drawing their weapons, only to be batted aside by an unseen energy. Her executive assistant sitting beside the senator's desk stood in shock as the locked office door blew open under a well-aimed swing of a lightsaber.

And Pooja herself stood with a look of shock and horror on her face, remembering well the last time a lightsaber was seen on the surface of Naboo. "Ben, what is this?"

Ben stood before her, chest heaving, and realized he was about to fall down. He waived at a chair, which came to his aid as he collapsed. Pooja moved around her desk as she waived her staff and security detail back. "Ben, what is going on? What are you doing with that sword?"

Pooja had never met General Obi-Wan Kenobi. She was still a child during the Clone Wars. But she knew the name, and Ben confirmed the suspicions she developed when she saw him move the chair with his mind.

"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was a Jedi master. Darth Vader knows I'm here, and you are all in danger." He looked up and took the senator's hand. "Pooja, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. Vader killed Sola."

Pooja pulled away from him. "Every time the Jedi come here, our people die," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "My mother is dead, because of you! How could you do this to us? How could you put us in this danger? How could you put her in this danger?"

"I'm so sorry, Pooja," Ben said. "Vader is coming for you. He…Sola told him something she shouldn't have, and now he's going to be hunting you all down. You have to collect the rest of your family and your grandparents, and leave the planet!"

"What about Kale?"

"Kale?" Ben stood, reaching out to the Force. He felt nothing, but was not surprised. He only sensed Kale when the boy actively tried to use or touch the Force. Otherwise, he was completely invisible to it. "I don't know, he was supposed to meet me but was late for…by the Force, Pooja, his new friend was an Imperial agent!"

"Senator?" the executive assistant said. She had heard everything. "Senator, we could…"

"I know, Doré," Pooja said. She closed her eyes. "How much time do we have, Ben?"

"Not much," Ben said. "Pooja, there's more. It has to do with Padmé. In another life, under a different name, Darth Vader and she were husband and wife. He gave her a mortal injury in a fit of rage, and shortly afterward I put him in that suit. He wants revenge not just for losing his wife, but for losing the children she bore him. That's why none of you are safe."

"I'll get the ship ready," Doré said without waiting for any further instruction.

"Where should we go, Ben?" Pooja demanded

"I have rendezvous coordinates I can give you," he said. "I can't think of anywhere you would be safe except the Alliance."

"Rebels," Pooja said with a tinge of disdain in her voice. "You want us to run to the rebels?"

"It is that, or face Darth Vader."

"I am a senator. He won't harm me."

"Sola was the sister of his wife."

The senator considered that fact for a long time. He saw a last tear trace its way down her cheek. "Bring me Kale," she said with a thick voice. "And I'll get you off the planet."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Kale wept.

He sat up on the floor and wept. His head throbbed with pain, and his chest stung where Arica shot him, but that was not the source of his pain. Those wounds would heal in minutes. He cried not because he was shot, but because it was Arica who shot him.

_I really am sorry_, she had told him. And yet she fired anyway. He remembered the sound of a sob, but dared not look at her. He lay perfectly still as she stepped over him and then left the building.

He stood and looked down at the burn holes in his shirt. His mother was going to kill him for ruining one of his best shirts. He had dressed his best that day because he knew he was going to see her. He had dreamed about it-it wasn't even the promise of…well, it wasn't that. It was just being with her, around her that made everything seem better. The sky seemed bluer, the water tasted sweeter; the air smelled delicious, all because she was beside him.

She shot him three times.

"No mistaking that," he whispered.

His com beeped at him and he flipped it open. "Kale, where are you?" Darde demanded.

"What's wrong?"

"Your house, Kale! It's on fire."

Kale was out of the room and two kilometers away before the com hit the floor while Darde continued calling his name. He had never run as fast as he did that day. Objects moved by at a blur, yet he was able to see them with only a little effort. He swerved and moved and dodged as if he were running at what Darde called "human" speed, but a thousand times faster.

And in moments, he arrived at the edge of his house as flames reached high into the sky. The Theed fire control units were already there, but he ignored their shouts of warning as he dove into the flames. He burst through a flaming wall into a cloud of black smoke. He held his breath and ignored the heat and smoke as he searched.

The intensity of his gaze was such, he could have sworn he was seeing not just walls, but through them. He did not ease his search, however. Not until he saw a skeleton. He gasped in shock, and as he did so, his vision reverted and he saw not bones, but a body. The dress was familiar—it was a dress he himself bought his mother on her last life day.

He rushed to her side; her body lay crumpled with her chest facing up, her waist spun 180 degrees toward the wall, and her legs splayed in the opposite direction. Her head was facing the floor.

A strangled whimper escaped his lips as he gently lifted her from the floor. She was dead, his mother was…

"We need to get out of here," a voice said to him. He looked up at a fire control tech in his fire armor. Others were around him. He nodded lifelessly and picked his mother up and carried her outside.

As he emerged onto the side of the street amidst the crowd that had gathered, he saw Darde. The young man was standing to one side of the crowd, his arms crossed over his chest. "Kale," he called. He saw Sola Naberrie in his friend's arms and paled.

Kale placed her on the gurney and very gently turned her head until it faced up. He saw the bruises on her neck. "That wasn't caused by a fire," one of the fire techs said.

Kale didn't see him, not really. He stumbled toward his friend. "Kale," Darde said. "Something bad is happening. Something real bad!"

"My mother is dead, Darde," Kale said numbly.

"I'm sorry, my friend. But it's not just her. Your dad's office…"

Kale began shaking. "What?"

"It's gone. There was an explosion, and everyone in it was killed. It was just on the local net report. And there are stormtroopers at your sister Pooja's office."

He turned then, a look of dread on his face, and only then saw the pillar of smoke rising from the city in the distance. "Arica did this," he whispered.

"What?"

"She shot me, Darde," he said. "She lured me to a building and she shot me. She thought I was dead."

Darde listened to this in shock. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to find Ben."

"You need to do it quick, then," Darde said. He nodded.

Kale turned and saw a squad of storm troopers stepping through the crowd toward them with their weapons drawn. "Halt!" one of them demanded.

Kale jumped—he jumped high. People below gasped in shock and surprise. The troopers followed his trajectory until one man actually fell over backward. Kale landed three hundred meters away with enough force to shatter the duracrete paving. He turned and stared back at the remnants of his home, and then sped away faster than any eye could follow.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

It felt like Jabim all over again. It felt like Utapau. Ben fought a rear-guard action against hordes of storm troopers while Senator Pooja Naberrie, her sister Ryoo, her staff, and her grandmother Jobal ran ahead of him through the underground passage that led from their building to the hangar within the palace of Theed itself.

That the passage existed was not a shock. After the occupation of Naboo by the Trade Federation decades before, Queen Amidala commissioned secret passages all over the capital complex. The fact that such a passage ran from the senator's office, however, was a surprise.

The troopers found it soon enough, however.

"We're almost there!" Pooja called. "There's a blastdoor right outside the hangar!"

Ben nodded, but didn't dare take his attention away from the troopers crowding the passage behind them. The blaster fire was continuous, and it took all Ben's skill to catch the beams. Again and again, he deflected shots back to the troopers. Again and again, each time a man fell, another stepped over his body to continue the onslaught.

Suddenly a thick heavy door dropped down mere centimeters from his face, and he spun to see Pooja keying in a lock code on a wall panel. "That should hold them for a while," she said. "This way!"

They emerged into the open hangar of Theed palace where the senator kept her ship. A squad of old yet still shiny Naboo fighters lined either side of the hangar. The senatorial barge sat to one side of the wide hangar, while through the open door, the distant green hills of Naboo rolled on.

Alone in the center of the hangar stood Darth Vader with a lit saber in his hand.

"I'll handle this," Ben said to the others. The irony was not lost on the Jedi. It was in this very same hangar almost thirty-two years ago that he fought another Dark Lord of the Sith. He lost his master and friend that day, but now he could lose so much more.

"Let them go, Darth," he said. "You can have me, just let them go."

"It is too late for that, Obi-Wan," the Dark Lord said. "'Children', she said. Padmé had twins." He took a step forward. "Where is the other child, Obi-Wan? Tell me this, and I will spare their lives."

"She died at birth, Darth," Obi-Wan lied. "They were both hurt by what you did to Padmé, and we were only able to save Luke."

"You lie, old man," Vader said. He took another step forward. "Tell me, or I will make the Naberrie family suffer for years to come. I have already killed Sola and her husband, and the boy. And if you don't tell me what I want to know, I will kill the rest."

With that warning, an entire battalion of storm troopers emerged from various points around the hangar. In the lead was a young woman in a black major's uniform, her bright red hair held back by a smart cap.

"And that must be Arica Soonda," Ben said. "Kale was your assignment?"

"Of course," she said with a cold smile. "He _was_ my assignment."

"You might think so," Ben said, for the first time allowing the hint of a smile. He turned to Pooja. "M'lady, I cannot speak for you. As you pointed out, every time a Jedi comes here, your people die. But if he gets what he wants, a new Sith will be spawned, and the darkness over our galaxy will continue for yet another generation. Tell me what you would have me do?"

"We're talking about my cousin, aren't we?"

"Yes, m'lady."

Pooja lifted her chin just as she had seen her mother do time and again. "A Naberrie never sells out family. Kill us if you want, but you will get nothing from us."

"As you wish," Darth Vader said.

Which is exactly when Ben struck. It was a masterful strike—Ben launched himself into a Force-propelled jump that crossed the hangar floor and brought him behind the Dark Lord. Even just ten years ago, he would have pulled it off with sufficient speed to kill even his former padawan.

But he was approaching sixty, and his speed showed it. Vader caught the slash toward his back with apparent ease, and pushed Ben back. The soldiers did not fire, and Arica simply watched with interest. "You're slowing down in your old age, Obi-Wan," Vader said. "I had hoped this would be a contest, but it seems it will simply be a slaughter."

"I suppose you do owe me one," Ben conceded.

Vader roared and charged. It was the hardest fight Obi-Wan had engaged in, even more difficult than Dooku, Ventress or Grievous. It was, in its own way, even more difficult that their last fight on Mustafar. Those many years ago, Ben had fought at his prime, and though he lacked Anakin's brute Force talent, he fought with wisdom and intelligence.

Years had given his opponent the intelligence, if not the wisdom, and the differences in their skills had decreased. Ben realized he was going to lose; all he could hope to do was delay things until… it was over. He felt a numbing heat through his chest, and looked down in shock to see Darth Vader's red saber impaling him. The heat turned to cold as the Dark Lord deactivated his blade. "You are nothing more to me than another dead Jedi," he said.

"As are you to me," Ben managed to whisper.

Suddenly a wall exploded. That was the only possible description for how the east hangar wall blew inward. In a blur, Kale Naberrie stood there, his chest heaving. His shirt, already damaged by blaster bolts, now hung in shreds from his run and his charge through several buildings and a set of reinforced walls.

He saw Arica staring at him in shock, her jaw agape; he saw Pooja, Ryoo and his grandmother standing near the ramp of the senatorial barge; he saw a crumpled form of Ben Kenobi in the middle of the hanger, with Darth Vader standing over him.

"Arica," Kale said.

"It's Jade," she shot back.

"Apparently you failed to finish your assignment after all," Vader said to Jade.

"I shot him three times," she said. "Point blank."

"And it did sting a little, if that's any consolation," Kale said. "Did you kill my mother too?" he demanded as he started walking toward them. Storm troopers knelt and assumed firing positions. "And my father? Were you going to kill my sisters and my grandmother too?"

"Yes," Vader said. "Enough with this foolishness. Open fire."

Kale blurred into motion. He could see fingers moving to depress triggers; he could see the muzzles of the blaster rifles pointed at the last living remnants of his family. He lowered his arms and ran between the rows of soldiers as fast as he could, letting his speed ram his arms against the heads of the troopers. He did not stop moving until every soldier was down.

And then he knelt by Ben. Vader spun around and backed away, clearly stunned by the display of speed that left a battalion of soldiers unconscious or even dead on the floor. Jade's blaster was also in her hand, but she did not fire. Kale neither noticed nor cared. All he saw was Ben's face. "I'm sorry I failed you, my friend," the old Jedi whispered. "I have failed so many."

"You didn't fail me," Kale sobbed. "I failed you. I should have been there. I should have been with you. I'm so sorry."

Ben pulled him down close and reached into his robe. "Take these," he whispered, handing over both his lightsaber and an odd green crystal. "One is my gift to you," he said. "The other is a gift of your heritage. I found it with you, many years ago. If was the only thing from your ship I kept. Keep it with you, always."

Kale accepted both and slipped them into his pockets. Nearby, Vader nodded. "Ahhh, I see now. You are the child the Emperor sensed years ago," he said. "We came for Kenobi alone, but now I see our task is not finished. The Emperor was right to order your death, boy. Now his order shall be fulfilled!"

Vader reared his blade and swung down with all his might. Kale raised his arm, and flesh and lightsaber met with a hissing crackle. Kale cried as his skin burned, but Vader grunted in shock when the saber did not penetrate. He stepped back. "What are you?"

Kale gently laid his friend on the floor and stood, his chest heaving. "I am Kale Naberrie, son of Sola and Darred Naberrie. Grandson of Jobal and Ruwee Naberrie. You killed my parents, you bastard. You killed them."

Vader lifted his blade and swung again. With a roar of rage he had never felt before, Kale batted the lightsaber away with his left arm and swung with his right to hit the Dark Lord of the Sith square in the center of his breath mask.

Nearby, Jade watched the fist strike Vader. The black mask shattered under the unbelievable power of the blow, and the dark lord flew unconscious into the open cockpit of a nearby N-1 Naboo fighter.

Before she could even take a breath, Kale was in front of her, his hand around her neck, her feet dangling half a meter above the floor. There were tears in his eyes. "What is your real name?"

"Mara Jade," she gasped.

"You lied to me," he growled.

"I had to obey my master," she said. She closed her eyes. "If I meant anything to you, please make it quick."

Kale roared, shaking violently as he continued to hold her like that. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he fought with something inside himself. At long last he let go and she crumpled gasping to the floor. "I loved you," he whispered. He turned his back on her and ran for Ben, but the body of the Jedi master was gone. All that remained were robes.

"Kale, we have to go now!" his sister called. He turned and saw everyone else had boarded the ship. He looked back at Mara Jade one last time, and then ran to join his family.

As the barge lifted from the hangar floor, Jade scrambled to the fighter where her master lay and climbed the ladder until she could see him. "M'lord?"

"I am injured," Vader said, stating the obvious with a note of incredulity. One entire corner of his mask was gone, giving his breathing a hiss. In addition to the now static-filled voice she knew so well, she heard a thinner, reedier echo of the man behind it. "I must return to the ship immediately."

"Can you walk, m'lord?"

"I cannot."

"Then we will carry you." Of course, by "We" Mara meant the storm troopers who were able to stand.


	5. Alone

**Chapter Five: Alone**

Kale sat alone in his cramped cabin, staring at a green crystal.

Just outside his door, he could hear raised voices as if he stood in their midst, even though the interior walls of the ship were technically soundproofed. There was Ryoo, in tears, screaming at all of them, while opposite her he could hear Pooja trying to calm her older sister's nerves. His grandmother Jobal tried to maintain the peace between them, while Pooja's aide desperately tried to extract some type of guidance from her employer.

If he tried, Kale knew he could peer right through the durasteel walls and see his family, although he found controlling this new aspect of his vision difficult. It was disconcerting to see his sister's underclothes, but not nearly as bad as seeing her internal organs. But he did not care to try to see anything. Instead, he sat staring at the green crystal while he cried quietly.

In the fifteen years of his life, Kale had only cried once, according to his and Ben's own recollections, and that was when he was a baby being shot by the Sandpeople on Tatooine, all of whom were dead now, along with the rest of the planet after Vader's attack years ago. Although he felt pain, he knew he did not feel it in the way other people did. Things did not cut or bruise him, and he never became ill. Those things that would make most people cry never bothered him. As for emotions, Kale had always shied away from close bonds that could be exploited—except for his family.

A huge sob wracked his body and he leaned forward, holding the crystal to his head as if in prayer. If there was a prayer in his mind, it was to erase the terrible image of his mother as she lay shattered on the floor of their burning home; it was to erase the image of Ben lying at the feet of Darth Vader as his world collapsed around him.

His door slid open, and he heard a voice. "Kale?" He quickly wiped his eyes and looked up to see Pooja staring at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure," he blurted. He forced a swallow and then asked: "Do we know where we're going to go yet?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She stepped into his room and sat on the bunk next to him, where she draped an arm around his back. "Before he died, Ben gave me rendezvous coordinates for a Rebel ship. But you know the Naberries never supported the rebellion. We're trying to decide what to do."

"I'm only fifteen, what do I know?" Kale said.

"Fifteen or not, you're also our brother, and we want you to be a part of the decision," Pooja said.

Kale stared at the floor. "I really hit Darth Vader, didn't I?"

Pooja nodded wordlessly.

"I don't think I'm going to be very popular with the Empire. I bet if they tried hard enough they could think of some way to kill me, and I'm just not sure I could take on the whole Empire by myself." He stared down at the crystal, wishing for the thousandth time that it had some answers to give him.

"Ben was planning on taking you to join the rebels, wasn't he?" Pooja said.

"I think so, yeah. He was a part of it, since he used to be a general." Pooja stood and began pacing the room. "What do grandmother and Ryoo think?" he asked.

"They want us to go back home and surrender," Pooja said. "But I'm having a problem with their line of reasoning."

"Why?"

"It's stupid," Pooja said bluntly. "Vader as much as ordered our execution. It's irrelevant now if we're rebels or not. We are enemies of the Empire."

"Then what do we have left to lose?"

"Our lives," Pooja said. For the first time, Kale emerged from his own misery long enough to notice his sister's bloodshot eyes. She looked as if she were also on the verge of tears. Without a word, he stood, towering over her as always, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you, Sis," he said to her. "I am so lucky to have been a part of your family. I'll do whatever you decide. You always were the better decision maker."

He felt her shoulders shake as she sobbed into his chest, then she stiffened as she forced herself back under control. "You're not half bad as a brother either, Kale. Do you think we should go to the rendezvous?"

Kale shrugged. "At least the rebels won't fire on us at first sight. At least, I hope not."

She nodded and wiped a lone tear from her eye. He realized, looking at her, that she looked a great deal like the statue of his aunt Padmé Amidala. She had the same regal carriage and the same structure to her face. And now, as she made her decision, she also had the same look of determination. "Then we go." She held out her hand, and he took it.

Together, they walked into the main cabin where Ryoo and Jobal waited, with Pooja's aide Doré standing nearby and the remaining staff watching from an anteroom. "We're going to meet with members of the rebel alliance," Pooja announced. "I realize that some of you may have issues with this decision. Therefore, if anyone in my staff, or my family," she said, looking at Ryoo, "wishes to leave, we will drop out of hyperspace over Chommell Minor long enough for you to take an escape pod to the surface. We will make sure you have funds enough to find transport off the planet. Are there any who wish to leave?"

Ryoo said nothing and looked at the floor. The others stared back as if offended the question even had to be asked. Pooja nodded with a smile. "Thank you. May the Force be with us all."

Four hours later, they discovered the Force was not with them.

Kale was sitting in the cockpit with Captain Stalic when they left hyperspace at the rendezvous coordinates. He enjoyed quizzing the captain about flying the ship, and had on two separate occasions been given the controls, although he had to admit he was not the greatest pilot in the galaxy.

The coordinates they arrived at were well outside the normal hyperspace lanes, in a point no one could possibly have found without the same exact coordinates. The nearest star was sufficiently far away to be no brighter than any of the other stars in the galaxy, and the void hung empty with what should have been an inviting stillness.

"I'm reading a ship fifteen thousand klicks to lower starboard," Stalic said in a suddenly urgent voice.

The co-pilot, a young woman in the standard Naboo defense force uniform, nodded her agreement. "It's big," she said.

"What's its transponder?"

The copilot hissed. "Imperial. Star Destroyer _Immortal_."

"Get us out of here!" Stalic said. Just then Pooja ran into the cockpit. "What's happening?"

"A star destroyer was waiting for us," Stalic said. "Your rendezvous coordinates must have been intercepted."

"Captain!" The co-pilot looked up from her controls with an expression of despair. "An interdiction field. We're not going any where."

"Where is the interdictor?"

"Aft, two thousand meters and closing," the copilot said. "The _Immortal_ is also closing at maximum sublight, less than ten thousand klicks."

There was no more time for talking. Stalic's hands flew over the controls and the _Amidala_ jumped into motion. The Naboo barge was fast and sleek, but the star destroyers behind them were also very fast, and the _Immortal_ was approaching at an effective angle.

Kale watched the sensors as the Imperial warship came within five thousand meters. Three thousand. Two thousand.

"We're taking fire!" Stalic said, though as thick beams of green death seared through space all around them, there was no need to actually announce it.

"What can we do?" Pooja asked.

Suddenly the ship bucked violently and the stars outside began to spin. Kale felt himself thrown against the starboard panel. He caught his sister as she was also thrown face-first against him. The ship spun so violently their hair flew back from their faces and the skin of their cheeks flapped as if in a terrible wind.

Kale heard a squeal of terror from his sister, barely audible over the alarm claxons and the death throes of the ship, and he held her close as light flashed around them, and the _Amidala_ exploded.

He held on to her as fire burned away their clothes and thrust them into the open emptiness of space. He held on to her as they tumbled through the emptiness without any hope of survival. His skin tingled against the cold and vacuum of space, but his chest did not burn, and he found himself holding his breath without effort. Still he held her tight.

He opened his eyes and saw his sister staring at him with empty sockets—her eyes taken by the explosive decompression. A scream of agony and horror was frozen in her open mouth—Kale could see frozen droplets of blood where she had bit through her tongue at the end. He could see blackened ridges along her back where the explosion had burned through her body, but those ridges were now coated in ice crystals. Behind her, he could see the darkening cloud of vapor that had been her ship.

There were no words that could describe the agony he felt. There was no single emotion that could convey the dark symphony of pain that flashed through his soul. He opened his mouth to scream, but the vacuum stole his voice. He closed his mouth again and held her tight, until he felt her frozen body crack and shatter under his grip. He watched, stunned now beyond mere horror as his sister—the last link to family he had—broke apart and fell away from him in a shower of red ice.

In the distance he saw the two Imperial ships pass through the debris field of his family's ship and then flash into hyperspace, leaving him completely, utterly alone in the vast emptiness of space.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"This is a waste of time," Holston said.

Winter shrugged. "It's our job. We're in Procurement and Supply, and so we're trying to procure a general."

"Okay, okay," Holston said. "Just seems like the general would be here by now if he was coming."

Outside the cockpit of their ship, the universe swirled back into existence as they emerged from hyperspace. "Uh-oh," Holston said.

Winter sat up. "What?"

"Debris field," the pilot said. "Not large, possibly a yacht or large shuttle. I'm reading trace energy signatures that look Imperial. This just happened in the last hour."

Winter blinked and stared out the window. "Looks like we are too late."

Holston clucked his tongue. "Well, this is a bit odd." Winter stared at him, unwilling to ask the question she shouldn't have had to ask. "An intact body," Holston finally explained. "It's moving at a pretty good pace away from the explosion, probably free falling. Still has a residual heat signature, so it might have some type of exo-suit."

She sat up attentively. If anyone could figure out a way to survive the destruction of a ship in deep space, it would be a former general and Jedi Master. "Can we bring it aboard?"

"We don't have a tractor beam. You'd have to suit up with a tether and try to bring the body aboard manually."

Winter felt her stomach drop. "You're serious?"

"It's that or pilot so I can do it."

She could fly, but she wasn't sure enough in her flying skills to matching trajectory and speed with a body in space. "Okay," she said. "Where are the suits?"

Ten minutes later, Holston gave her the thumbs up after checking the integrity of her suit and attaching her tether line. The suit had small control jets that could get her where she needed, but the thought of going into space without a line to the ship was too terrifying to even consider.

The door to the airlock closed and sealed as Holston left, then the room flashed red three times before the outer door opened. She began looking for the body, but could see nothing in the absolute blackness of space. It wasn't until Holston turned the ship's exterior atmospheric runner lights on the body that she saw him.

There was no suit. Instead she saw the body of a large young man with well-defined muscles in open display amid tattered and burned clothes. The body glistened with ice crystals under the white light from the ship, but the coloration of the skin still appeared healthy and natural.

Winter gripped the edge of the airlock door and focused her attention as squarely on the body as she could. She did not look at the stars around them, or the overwhelming emptiness above and blow. There was only the body of the young man floating in space. If nothing else, she told herself, he deserved a funeral. No one should die so alone.

She took a deep breath, let go of the door, and let the suit's maneuvering jets push her forward. Two meters, five meters, ten meters, and then she was there. Her gloved hands held onto his exposed arms and she slowly turned the body toward her, half afraid of the burns she knew he had to have experienced.

She gasped in surprise when she saw no burns, only smudges and stains on his otherwise perfect skin. He was curled in a fetal position, grasping an object in his hands. She turned her suit's lights on and saw it was a green crystal of some kind.

Then he opened his eyes.

Winter screamed and pushed off him in shock. The young man's eyes widened as he recognized her as human, and he reached for her with a grimace of fear. Winter overcame her shock, and again forced herself to focus on the boy only. Somehow, he was alive. Perhaps it was the crystal he held. Perhaps there was another force at play, but she knew she could not leave him alone.

"Winter, what's going on?" Holston demanded.

"We have a live one," Winter said, not wanting to engage in any explanation. "But he startled me and I pushed off. Can you follow?"

"Use your suit jets and I'll match you to give you enough slack."

She complied and started falling after the mysterious boy. As she approached again, he looked at her with such open hope and terror she felt her eyes water in compassion, while her mind raced to find answers to his continued existence.

Finally, she got close enough to reach out a hand, which he took. His hand was strong and cold, almost like steel. She realized then that he was probably a droid of some kind. She knew of human replica droids but had never actually seen one. It was, however, the only explanation she could think of how the boy could survive the vacuum of space.

Even knowing he was a droid, Winter could not just leave the thing to fall through space. Even droids deserved better than that, and it might even be able to give her information about what happened. She turned with his hand in hers and pulled the tether, nudging them gently back to the ship.

He remained in place when the airlock cycled through atmosphere and gravity. When the interior door opened, he did not step through like an ordinary droid. He stumbled through, gasping desperately for breath. And with his second breath came a sound Winter had never heard before. It was a sound of pain and death, horror and shock; a wail; a scream. It was a symphony composed of every note of pain imaginable to a sentient, and it came from the body of what she had thought was a droid.

As she took her helmet off, though, and as Holston ran into the main cabin with his blaster drawn in alarm, Winter began doubting her first assessment. How could any droid, even the most complex HRD, make a sound like that? For that matter, how could even a person make a sound like that?

The wail trailed off to a whimper, and then a sob as the boy folded in on himself, his head to the floor by his knees. Compassion overruled common sense and forced her to her knees beside the young man. "Are you all right?" was all she could think to say.

He looked up at her, and she realized finally that this could not be a droid. Eyes as blue as the Alderaanian sky stared at her as tears flowed down perfectly chiseled cheeks. As a specimen, he was the most beautiful young man she had ever seen. He stared at her as one completely lost and alone. "They killed my family," he said in a thick, choked voice. "Everyone. My parents. My sisters. My grandmother. Even Ben." He bent over then, and seemed simply to cave in to his grief.

Winter stripped off her glove and put a bare hand on his still-cold shoulder, but had no idea what else to do. In her twenty-one years, she had never known grief like she witnessed in this young man, and it left her bewildered as to what to do. Though orphaned, she had been too young to remember the deaths of her own parents.

Holston simply shrugged, turned and walked back to the cockpit. Obviously he considered consoling a distraught teenager outside of his assigned duties.

Eventually the storm passed. The boy's sobs were replaced by disconcerting silence as he stared at the floor. Into this lingering silence, Winter said very softly: "What is your name?"

"Kale Naberrie," he whispered. "Ben gave us these coordinates to rendezvous with the rebels, but the Empire was there."

Ben. Winter searched through her perfect memory and found a reference to Obi-Wan Kenobi as Ben. "You mean General Kenobi? Do you know where he is?"

Kale sat up and took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He held out a hand, and in it was a lightsaber. Winter inhaled sharply as he confirmed what it meant. "Darth Vader killed him on Naboo. Right after he murdered my mother. Pooja, Ryoo and I escaped, but then they destroyed the ship. I was holding Pooja when it blew." His voice cracked as his chest starting shaking again. "I was holding her, but I couldn't save her. I couldn't…" He broke down again.

Winter rested a hand on his back while her mind raced. Naberrie. Pooja. She realized he was speaking of the Imperial Senator Pooja Naberrie, a friend of Leia's. Going through her eidetic memory, she recalled a description of the Naberrie family, including a note about an adopted son.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Kale," she soothed him. "I'm so very sorry. But how did you survive?"

He blinked, and then looked down at himself. With his clothes in tatters and his chest exposed, the young man blushed furiously. "I…it's not easy to hurt me." He held up his right arm, and she saw just the hint of a scar that looked days old. "This is the worst thing I've ever had, and that was with Vader hitting me with his lightsaber as hard as he could. That was five or six hours ago, I guess. It'll be healed up in another hour or so."

"He hit you with a lightsaber and you're okay?"

He shrugged. "I hit him back," he said, a note of teenage defensiveness in his voice. "I broke his mask. I hope it killed him!" He said the last as if the idea of killing was so repugnant it the words alone violated every belief he had.

Winter stood and held out a hand. "Kale, I can't bring back your family. But I can say you're safe for now. I am a part of the Rebel Alliance, and I was sent to pick up General Kenobi. I can take you someplace where you'll be safe."

"I thought Naboo was safe."

"Alderaan is different, Kale. I promise. It'll take us a while to get there to make sure we're not tracked, but I think you'll see it really is different."

He nodded and then looked at her. She saw his cheeks flush again and he kept her eyes only a moment. "Thank you," he said shyly. "What's your name?"

"My name is Winter. And you're welcome, Kale."

He nodded and looked around. "What am I supposed to do now?" Appearances aside, it was the question one would expect of a teenager, and Winter realized that's what he was—a teenager in desperate need of guidance.

"Bail will know what to do," she said. "Chancellor Organa sent me to collect Obi-Wan, and he'll know what to do with you."

"Ok." He wiped his nose. "Do you have anything to eat?"

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Darth Vader knelt, still unsteady, before his Emperor and bowed his head. Around them, the massive throne room of the Imperial Palace echoed with the last ghosts of the Sith Lord's footsteps.

The transit from Naboo to Coruscant had taken less than four days, during which time a veritable army of medical droids had rebuilt Vader's mask and artificial respiratory systems while applying bacta to his damaged tissue. Even after four days of intense therapy, however, the effects of Kale Naberrie's punch lingered.

Fifty paces away, the Emperor sat upon his oversized throne, his hands draped lazily over either side, his face hidden by the cowl of his robe. "My Hand tells me you were injured, Lord Vader."

"Yes, my master."

"Tell me what happened, my friend."

Vader knew Mara had reported every second of his encounter, but related the events himself, including how a fifteen-year-old boy shattered his duraplast face mask with a single blow and deflected a lightsaber with his arm.

"And you think this boy was your son?"

The question shook Vader. He had not told the Emperor about his motivation for destroying Tatooine, and Jade herself had only been a child at the time. "He cannot be, Master. He was too young. If I had a son, it is likely he died in childhood as Kenobi told me."

The Emperor seemed to absorb the words and sat staring at his apprentice. For the longest time, the only sound was the mechanical rasp of Vader's suit. The Emperor's voice whipped serpentine-like through the silence. "This disturbs you, Lord Vader?"

"You told me she died, my Master."

Palpatine's face remained hidden in shadow. "And so she did, Lord Vader. The Jedi must have clouded even my vision in this matter." The image stared unblinkingly as the emperor's dry voice continued. "I grieve for you, my friend. But I sense there is more."

Vader's head dipped imperceptibly lower. Imperceptible, except to the emperor. "While on Naboo, I learned there may be a second child."

Palpatine leaned forward, his ghastly pale face exposed. "A second child? And you wish to pursue this child?"

"I do, My Master.'

The Emperor settled back into shadow. "Be sure your priorities are clear, Lord Vader."

"They are, My Master."

"And what are those priorities?"

"To hunt down Kale Naberrie."

The Emperor waived a hand dismissively. "There is no need. The boy was destroyed with Senator Naberrie's ship."

Vader looked up in surprise, much to the Emperor's delight. "Yes, Lord Vader, I knew of that traitor's escape from Naboo, as I knew of your actions there. Any creature that could defeat a Dark Lord of the Sith with such ease could not be allowed to live. Rest assured, Kale Naberrie is dead."

"As you say, My Master. What is your wish for me?"

Palpatine nodded in satisfaction. "I have learned that the plans for the Death Star have been stolen. The plans were beamed to a rebel cruiser called _Liberty_. This indicates the rebels may be planning a strike against the battle station."

"You wish me to hunt down the rebel ship?"

"No, my friend. I wish you to go to the Death Star. Remind Moff Tarkin to whom he owes his allegiance. And if you must, pursue this second child of yours."

"Thank you, My Master."

"And Lord Vader? Make sure that if you ever do find this second child that you bring it before me."

"It shall be done, My Master."


	6. Toprawa

**Chapter Six: Toprawa**

His Serene Highness, Prince Bail Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan, approaching his 69th birthday, looked younger than Obi-Wan Kenobi, though more than twelve years the Jedi master's senior. He wore an immaculately trimmed beard that was still mostly the same shade of black as his hair, save for streaks of white at his temples and lines of white in his beard from the curve of either side of his mouth.

Organa carried himself with a regal air that went beyond just his birth. It was the air of a man who, aside from being born into privilege, had seen and done many things, and felt both humbled and at the same time worthy of the responsibility and privilege given him.

Vader hated everything about the man. Here was a spoiled prince, born to more wealth than Vader ever knew, raised to believe himself worthy of his wealth and power when he was no worthier than a slave.

Not even a week since his embarrassment on Naboo, still physically weak and angry, Vader was in a foul mood to begin with. But when Bail looked at Darth Vader, it was the look of a man who believed himself superior. It was infuriating to the already short-tempered Dark Lord.

"I'm sure you can understand our concerns, Highness," Moff Tarkin said, his clipped, cultured voice at once a compliment and a counterpoint to Bail's own measured and stately speech.

"Of course, Grand Moff Tarken, and I am grateful to both you and Lord Vader, and our Emperor, for that concern. Alderaan has always been a loyal subject of the Empire, and we will of course cooperate in any fashion required."

"I'm glad we're in agreement, then," Tarkin said. "You will have no objection to our stationing a garrison of stormtroopers then, to keep the Caamasi and other alien scum in line?"

It was a hook, of course—a deliberate insult to the viceroy's sensibilities. Although Vader was never one of Tarkin's admirers, he nonetheless had to respect the man's abilities to bait his enemies.

However, Bail too must have recognized it for what it was and gave just the hint of a smile and a bow. "As you know, we are a pacifist world and are not armed ourselves. We would welcome the additional security to be gained by your garrison, and thank you for the offer."

"Our pleasure, to be sure," Tarkin said with the same ghost of a smile. "It is always an experience, Viceroy. Please be sure to give our regards to your daughter. Speaking of, where is the Princess?"

"She is on a senatorial mission to Ralltiir," Organa said. "I'm sorry she is not here to meet you personally, but I will make sure to pass your regards to her."

"Thank you. Good day, Viceroy."

"Good Day, Grand Moff Tarkin. Lord Vader."

The two turned and left the viceroy's spacious and luxuriously appointed office and began walking down the narrow, high-ceilinged hall that led to the front entrance of the palace. As they walked, a contingent of storm troopers fell in behind them, until they emerged into the cold sunlight of a winter's day.

Only when they were aboard the shuttle and flying toward the Death Star did Vader voice his opinion. "He is lying."

"Of course, Lord Vader. There is a battle station 160 kilometers in diameter orbiting his planet. He will say anything to keep us from firing."

"And the Princess?"

Tarkin lifted a long finger to his lips in thought. "We don't have the evidence we need yet to arrest her yet, but that time will come soon enough. I was sure we would link her to the uprising at Toprawa a few days ago, but somehow she escaped entanglement. The Emperor chose to reassign one of my destroyers, and it allowed the rebels to get the information free and clear."

Vader knew exactly what Tarkin referred to. "The Emperor had his reasons. It is not for us to question them."

Tarkin looked up in surprise and studied the Dark Lord. "I see. Quite right, they are the Empire's destroyers, after all. In the meantime, I think Toprawa would be a good start as a test of the Death Star, would you not agree?"

"Indeed." Vader sat in silence for a long while. "I will remain here," he said at last. "I sense a disturbance here."

Tarkin nodded without expression. After nearly twenty years of working with the Dark Lord, he had learned not to question the Force or how it guided his masters. "If you believe it necessary, I will of course understand. The _Devastator_ is here, I believe."

"Indeed."

"Very well. I assume you shall inform the Emperor?"

Vader nodded silently, obviously thinking other thoughts.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Han Solo did not like Boba Fett. Boba Fett did not like Han Solo.

The two of them stood side by side, staring down at the body of a woman both respected, and whom Han once loved.

"Poison," Fett's altered voice explained; he wore his helmet as always. "The stormtroopers were about to overrun her command and she took a poison pill to keep from being captured."

Han nodded, his lips pursed in an effort to keep his face passive. Bria Tharen looked at peace, a peace she had never known except in the grip of drugs. More than just at peace, she looked so beautiful, but still so very still.

"I promised I would let her father know," Fett said. "Don't ask why. I can't get to him, but you can."

Han nodded. "I'll let him know."

Boba nodded and slung his blaster rifle. "'Til next time." It sounded vaguely like a threat. The bounty hunter turned and walked away, leaving Han staring down at the body. There were other bodies, hundreds in fact. Mostly rebels, but more than a few fallen Imperials as well.

An Imperial lieutenant walked smartly up to Solo and snapped off a sharp salute. "Captain Solo, we have received a priority communiqué to evacuate Toprawa."

Solo blinked. "Evacuate? The planet?"

"The Emperor has personally authorized Grand Moff Tarkin to make reprisals for the uprising," the lieutenant said.

Captain Han Solo of the Imperial Navy nodded and knelt down beside Bria. With his thumb, he gently wiped away a touch of soot from her cheek before standing again. "Good bye, love." He turned to the lieutenant. "Let's not waste any time, lieutenant."

"Yes, sir." The two men left the converted morgue and quickly stepped into the still battle-damaged hallways of the Imperial Research Center.

As Han emerged into the main hangar, he was unsurprised to find base personnel already packing their belongings onto waiting shuttles. The garrison, depleted after the uprising, was already on its way into orbit. Through the hangar door Han could see the people of Toprawa protesting the Imperial presence and the local reprisals that occurred so swiftly afterward.

"Those poor souls have no idea what is about to happen," he whispered. He forced himself not to think about it. He had a duty, and immediately he fell into his role as captain of the Toprawa squadron. "Is my ship ready?" he asked his lieutenant.

"Warmed up and ready, sir!"

Han nodded and couldn't help hide a grin. His ship waited for him on the hangar deck floor, rather than the overhead gantries that held the rest of his squadron. For Captain Solo, Valedictorian of his class at Carida and the hero of the Battle of Bard D'lar, only the best would do. That was why he flew one of only forty of the TIE Advanced x1 fighters in existence. He liked it.

"Hello, girl," he said as he patted the octagonal transparisteel cockpit. He climbed up the ladder and, standing inside his ship, began pulling on his flight suit. Around him, the rest of his pilots were quickly taking the lifts to their individual ships. The research shuttles would have a full escort off the planet, and the escort would fly in the perfect formation Captain Solo always expected.

The small convoy of shuttles left the surface in less than half an hour after receiving the evacuation notice. Captain Solo and his squadron, the 175th Bloodstripes, flew in perfect diamond formation after them. As they increased their angle of flight to begin escape velocities, the captain happened to look up in the sky and see what the Empire planned to make its reprisals with.

"Stang," Solo whispered to himself.

Even from well within the planet's atmosphere, he could see the battle moon in a distant orbit. For it to be that large in the sky, the craft itself had to be unthinkably huge. Some of his pilots whistled as well. "Cut out the chatter, Bloodstripes," he ordered.

The chatter cut off immediately, but he shared their uneasiness. It seemed wrong for anything manmade to be that large.

When they left the atmosphere, the true immensity of the battle station made itself known, and Han felt more than awe—he felt fear. Still, he had his duty and he stifled the fear as he continued escorting the personnel from the research station. After all, he told himself, the people under his guard helped develop some of the systems on that battle station.

Han's comm blinked as he received new orders. "All fighters are to remain in patrol formation around the Death Star," he echoed the orders over his command frequency. "All shuttles are to continue as scheduled to Hangar 2340-AA."

He received confirmations from the shuttle pilots and then led his squadron into escort duty, flying a few hundred meters above the varied surface of the battle station. There were more turbolaser and deflector towers than he could count. The place looked invincible.

Then he saw it.

Although only a fighter officer, he nonetheless heard rumors about superweapons. He knew on an intellectual level that the Empire was building a very large weapon to use against the rebels. But intellectual knowledge failed to comprehend the emotional shock of seeing six green beams lance out from the bowl-like depression in the northern hemisphere of the station to conjoin into a massive beam as thick as a destroyer.

The beam was so powerful that the shockwave of its passage alone managed to travel through the vacuum of space and impact his ship with something like sound—a deep, primordial and terrifying hum.

Han Solo, Captain in the Imperial Navy, watched in horror as that large beam of green energy impacted the planet. Toprawa ended so quickly it didn't seem possible. He had witnessed a planet explode once, and in time the gravity of the planetary material eventually pulled it back into a large fiery orb. The conservation of energy and mass was difficult to overcome.

Except when put against 2.1*10 to the 32nd power joules of concentrated energy in the form of a superlaser. When the Death Star's primary weapon struck Toprawa, gravity itself paled in comparison. The planet did not just explode, it in large part vaporized into rock and sand, just like a ripe melon when hit by a blaster bolt.

"Did you see that?" Lieutenant Klivian exclaimed after the interference from the laser and the almost instantaneous explosion of the planet had passed.

Solo was too stunned himself to order his men to be quiet. He didn't have to. On all frequencies and all channels, they heard a familiar voice. "For their assistance to the traitor rebels, and for their cooperation with the uprising against His Imperial Majesty's forces, Toprawa has been destroyed," Grand Moff Tarkin announced. "May this be a message to any other world considering rebellion against our glorious Empire!"

The Bloodstripes said nothing else to each other, and Han Solo flew in silence, chewing his lip. "What am I going to tell Bria's dad?" he whispered to himself at last.

The order finally came to bring his squadron in, and he obeyed unthinkingly. When his squadron was landed and billets were taken care of with the quartermaster, Han went straight to his new one-room officer's quarters, sat down on his bunk, and stared at the floor for the longest time. Then he ran to his fresher to be sick.

He had just washed his face and resumed his seat on the bunk when he heard a chime. "Come," he said, ready to snap to attention if it were a superior officer.

Instead, it was Lieutenant Klivian, who himself snapped to attention and saluted. "Captain!"

"At ease, Derek, we're off duty."

Derek nodded. "I was hoping you'd say that, sir. I brought something for you." He reached behind his back and unhooked from his belt an unopened bottle of Corellian whiskey. "I don't know about you, sir, but after what I saw, I really need some of this."

Han shook his head. "You have no idea. Here, let me scrounge up some glasses." In the end, they settled for cheap Imperial-issue caf mugs, but they worked. The two men sat on opposite sides of the bunk and drank half the bottle in dead silence.

It was Klivian who finally spoke. "How many people you think were down there?"

"About four million or so," Solo said.

"Never saw four million people die so fast 'fore," Klivian said.

"Me neither."

Klivian sobbed once, then filled his glass and took another swig. "First time I put on my uniform, I sent a picture to my folks, I was so proud. I'm not proud no more."

Solo said nothing and stared at the few drops of whiskey left in his glass. "I'm not either," he said finally. "I know people die in war. But…the Empire was created to keep things like that from happening!"

"That's what the history books say," Klivian said. "You met Tycho?"

"That Lieutenant from Prefsbelt?"

"Yeah. He's pretty upset about this too. A lot of the pilots are."

Solo sat up. "Better not get too upset about it. They shoot defectors without trial."

Klivian nodded and downed another cup. "Yeah, don't wanna talk too much about it. Might get shot. I…I'd met someone down there, Cap'n. Her name was Dela. She wasn't a rebel sympathizer. Her dad sold droid parts. She worked at a caf joint near the base. She was real sweet to me. Even kissed me on our last date." He sobbed again. "She didn't deserve to die."

"No, most of them didn't," Solo admitted to himself. No more than Bria deserved to die choking on her own poison before being shot to death. No more than he deserved to be sitting in comfort aboard a murderous space station while her family waited for news of her death.

He looked up at Klivian and saw something in the pilot's face that made his blood freeze. It was desperation, anger, and trust. It was the look of a man about to speak the unspeakable. Silently, Han began praying to the gods of Corellia that the unspeakable would remain unsaid.

He was not so lucky. "I can't do this anymore, Han," Klivian whispered, openly weeping now. "I just can't keep killing people like this. We're on the wrong side!"

There. It was said. Han realized as his stomach dropped that he had only two choices now, and either choice was going to change his life forever. Choice one: he could immediately detain Klivian and report him for treasonous activity and attempted suborning of a superior officer; or, Choice two: he could say what he really thought, and face execution.

Bria's lifeless, peaceful face stared up at him again, as if reminding him how little his dream of Imperial service had really meant in the end without her. "I'm not sure I can either, Derek," he admitted. "But you'd better not go spreading this around to just anybody, or we're dead."

"So far it's just me, Tycho Celchu, Captain Vander, Ensign Prin and now you."

"`Dutch' Vander is in on this?"

"He started it," Klivian admitted. "He was ordered to bomb his own home planet a few months ago. He faked a malfunction to get out of it, but he didn't save his city. His capital ship took it out from orbit. Killed his whole family."

Solo shook his head. "And Prin? She's a brand new transfer. Can we trust her?"

"I checked her background. She was from Toprawa. She was crying when she climbed out of her fighter."

Han remembered her now, though at the time he had been too busy wallowing in his own feelings; a little redhead that reminded him vaguely of Bria, but prettier. The poor girl had looked stricken as she tried to hide her tears. "We're getting ourselves in pretty deep."

"Yeah, but you're the key, Captain. Your fighter has hyperdrive."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Princess Leia Organa suddenly understood what it meant to be afraid.

She had thought she was intimate with fear after almost two years of working for her father trying to unite the various rebel cells into a singular alliance. On several occasions her life had been in real, immediate danger. She had wielded her blaster and killed a fair number of storm troopers herself, as well as the disaster with Lord Tion on Ralltiir just days ago.

There was, however, one aspect of Leia's personality that her father and close friends all knew far better than she herself ever did. Leia cared far more for those around her than she did for herself. That overwhelming empathy shaped her entire life, setting her feet on the path of politics and her destiny squarely against that of Emperor Palpatine.

And when she witnessed the holonet transmission showing the destruction of Toprawa, Leia's empathy screamed in pain and terror. Realizing how many people that machine could kill, she knew fear for the first time.

She was in the common room of the Tantive IV talking with Captain Antilles when the holonet screen came on at the direction of the ship's communication officer. Leia blinked, surprised her conversation with the captain had been interrupted, and then saw it. The Death Star, the very object of terror Operation Skyhook had been designed to thwart, now sat in orbit over a familiar world, one she had studied intently.

"Is that Toprawa?" she asked the captain to confirm her suspicion.

And then she witnessed the Death Star bring forth death on a scale previously unimagined, and the whole planet died in a flash.

Leia felt her knees go weak and nearly collapsed back to the couch, unaware she had even risen. She felt Antilles' hands on her arm trying to steady her, but she did not feel them. Rather, she felt a rush of pain, as if she could hear the voices on the planet screaming out their death cries, followed by numbing, terrible silence.

"By the stars," she whispered. "What have they done?"

Captain Raymus Antilles kept his hands on her arm. "We knew it was a matter of time, Princess." He studied the screen. "This happened two days ago, according to the report."

The dead planet was replaced by a beloved, concerned face. "Leia."

"Father! Is this real, did they do this?"

In all her life, Leia had never seen her father as stricken as he looked when he said: "That is the price of rebellion, Daughter of my Heart."

She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Yes, Father, you're right, of course. It was just a shock, a whole planet destroyed."

"There is a valuable lesson to be learned at Toprawa for us all. Shortly before leaving for Toprawa, the Death Star visited Alderaan. Grand Moff Tarkin inquired about your health. I told him I would let you know of his concern."

"Thank you, father."

"Darth Vader is still here, heading a garrison to help control the Caamasi and the refugee riots. Evidently the Caamasi have been agitating for open rebellion since the destruction of Toprawa."

"They have been known to give voice to their feelings on the subject," she said, fighting to hide the tremor in her voice.

"As things are, we must seek peace in whatever haven we can. I seek that peace now, knowing you are safe, and that my love and the love of all of us go with you."

"I seek it as well, father. I am glad we spoke. Please give Lord Vader my respects. Unfortunately, my duties will keep me delayed, although I don't know how long."

"I understand. I truly wish you were here, Leia. Come home as soon as you can."

"I shall."

The screen blinked and Leia collapsed to the couch, her face an icy mask while just under the skin emotions boiled. "We cannot return to Alderaan."

"I understand, Princess," Raymus said. "He indicated a haven. Do you think he was referring to Yavin Base?"

"Most likely. But we can't afford to go just yet. There is the matter of those defecting pilots to discuss."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"We're not going to Alderaan," Winter said.

Kale seemed to deflate in disappointment and merely nodded. "I understand."

"Darth Vader is there," she continued.

Kale looked up, his disappointment replaced by fear. "Vader? Where should we go, then?"

The two of them had been together with Holston in the cramped ship for a week. In that time, she had learned a few things about Kale Naberrie.

He was, first and foremost, a teenage boy. He blushed furiously nearly every time she walked into the main cabin. He stared at her from the corners of his eyes and had to struggle to keep eye contact. She knew she was an attractive woman, with her distinctive white hair a beacon to male eyes all around. She did give him credit for trying to be polite, though. His mother at least tried.

The second thing she learned about him was that he was strong. Stronger than anyone she had heard of, human or otherwise. His strength was actually frightening, or would be, if it weren't within the frame of a genuinely kind, embarrassed, furiously blushing teen.

"Kale, you can put the hyperdrive motivator back," she said after Holston finished his maintenance. It was actually the back-up motivator, since Holston insisted he have a spare. It was the size of any three people side-by-side, and weighed a thousand kilograms easily. Kale had lifted it with one hand and showed no sign of stress at the weight.

Kale obeyed and gently slipped the massive motivator back into its secondary fitting as Winter and Holston stared. "What do they feed you kids on Naboo?" the pilot said.

Kale shrugged with his now predictable blush. "I'm just strong for my age."

"Yeah, and I'm a Jedi Master," the rebel pilot had said.

Kale and Winter were sitting together when they received news of Toprawa, and then a well-secured communiqué ordering them to Yavin. Although disappointed in not seeing Bail, Winter knew better than to question the orders. They came from General Dodonna himself.

"What's at Yavin?"

"Our main base," Winter said. "It's on one of Yavin's moons. We'll have to take a circuitous route, though. It may be another few days before we get there."

"That's okay," Kale said. He spoke very softly around her, as if afraid to raise his voice even to normal speaking tones. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

Winter rested a hand on his shoulder. "Kale, it's okay to mourn. You've lost a lot. But you're not really alone. There are many people who have lost loved ones to the Empire. Holston lost a son. My own parents were killed by the empire when I was a baby. And General Kenobi—he lost a lot as well. You're among friends, I promise you."

"Thank you," Kale said with a ghost of a smile. "I'm just trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do when we get there. I'm just a kid. I'm not a pilot or a soldier."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Winter said. "I wouldn't worry too much about that."

"I hope you're right."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

The 175th squadron, known as the "Bloodstripes", completed its battle drill early. They were two parsecs from the Death Star, which was floating in interstellar space awaiting a new target.

Han ran his men through their paces, forcing them again and again to perfect their maneuvers. He had the best squadron to begin with, and knew that his name was already in the hat for a promotion to major, but none of that mattered, now.

When the squadron of X-wing fighters appeared blazing away, Han began barking orders over the holonet while signaling for back-up. Three of his pilots died immediately—all three were Coruscanti elite and rabid followers not just of the Empire, but were also card-carrying members of COMPNOR.

The remaining pilots continued the combat chatter, but did not shoot at the Rebel fighters; nor did the Rebel fighters continue firing. "I'm hit!" Solo announced. He hit his eject button and braced himself as the canopy popped and his seat fired its thrusters to shoot him away from his ship. Through his helmet comm he heard the other pilots doing the same, including Dutch Vonder, who had asked to observe the exercise.

When all the pilots were floating free in space, the X-wings began to methodically take out the TIEs, including Han's beloved Advanced x-1. A moment later a Rebel shuttle popped out of hyperspace and opened its cargo hatch. It flew with amazing accuracy through the grouping of pilots, plucking them from space one at a time.

By the time the swarm of two hundred TIEs arrived as backup, the Rebel ships were gone, leaving nothing more than debris. Grand Moff Tarkin himself signed the order awarding the BloodStripes the posthumous Imperial Medal for their courage under fire. After all, when he listened to the tactical recording of the combat, he never heard one note of fear, just steely determination. "If only all our pilots showed such brazen courage," the Moff had told his aides.


	7. Blood

A/N-For anyone reading this for the first time, you will have noticed that while this is a crossover with Smallville, this is set entirely within the world of SW. And within that world, people die. Perhaps off screen, but delve into the story beyond the movies, and you'll see massive casualty rates. Originally there was some strong reaction to some of the more violent aspects of this story. However, it is completely within character for a Darth Vader who mercilessly slaughtered children in Revenge of the Sith to do what he does here. Consider this your only warning. The rating change from T to M was intentional and overdo.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Blood**

Celly giggled incessantly as she ran her hands down the handsome young man's back. The two of them lay in a bed, in a nameless hostel on the outskirts of Aldera.

The princess was not a young woman any more, but she was still as vivacious and sensual as ever. More so, in many ways. Although her thighs were a bit heavier, and her waist a bit thicker than when she was a girl, she still thought herself good looking. However, she had noticed over the past few years that the handsome young men of Alderaan just didn't look at her like they used to.

So when this beautiful young man paid her such single-minded attention, she responded with abandon and let him sweep her away to this room. From his contented expression, she assumed he had learned the value of experience and confidence.

Now she laid back in the bed, running her hands across his bare back, luxuriating in the endorphin-driven relaxation that only came after love, and dreamed of the many such encounters she had enjoyed before.

She was dreaming of a particularly handsome young Antilles boy when the door to the room opened and a nightmare in black stepped through. "Princess Organa," Darth Vader said. "I trust Ensign Peston was sufficiently entertaining for you?"

Celly turned in anger as "Peston" had stood to attention, clad only in boxers. "Your services are appreciated, Ensign," Vader said. He held up a hand, and the handsome young man began gasping and clutched desperately at his throat. "However, my questions for the princess are private in nature."

Celly watched in horror as the young man fell dead to the floor. She clutched at the sheets on the bed and held them desperately to her chin, as if somehow those sheets would protect her. Vader stepped to the foot of the bed, while behind him the door closed of its own accord. "What do you want?" she gasped.

Vader held up a hand, and the sheet covering her jerked suddenly away, leaving her exposed. "You are an attractive woman, princess. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to mar such beauty."

She grabbed at her dress, and he made no effort this time to stop her. "My brother will hear of this!"

"Perhaps. There is a small matter I wish to discuss with you, Princess."

"I have nothing to discuss with murderers!" Her words stumbled as she felt a pressure against her throat.

"I wish to discuss Princess Leia."

Celly's eyes widened. "She's…leave her alone, you monster. She's not done anything!"

"You misunderstand. I wish to discuss her parentage." She felt a tug around her neck and looked down at the locket she wore around her neck. "I understand you and your sisters carry a lock of her hair. You won't object if I borrow it?"

The locket broke away from her neck and into the black glove of his waiting hand. Instinctively, she rushed from the bed after it, only to be met with his other hand around her neck. "I hope you enjoyed the ensign," he told her. "One last pleasure before the end."

Celly tried to scream, but managed only a whimper before he broke her neck.

He allowed the body to fall and stepped around the bed to lift the suffocated ensign. He put the boy's body on top of the sister of Bail Organa, arranging the tableau until it appeared he was choking her. When that was complete, he dug through her belongings until he found an elegantly carved ivory-handled dagger, used mainly for the cutting of meat. He placed it in her hand and then, using the Force to guide her dead hand, thrust the knife into the belly of the dead ensign.

"It is enough," he said to himself before turning and leaving the room. He hated the subterfuge, but knew the time had not come to openly challenge Organa. He already had a DNA sample from the other fostered child of the Organa family, the girl named Winter, but he knew he had to check both samples just to be sure.

As he walked through the otherwise empty hall to his waiting shuttle, he envisioned both young women. Leia he had seen in the senate—a young firebrand courting the Emperor's wrath. Winter was quieter, a watcher with brilliant white hair and a beautiful grace that made her seem more like a princess than the senator.

He could see elements of his beloved in both women, although Winter carried herself more like a queen than the princess. But Leia stood up for her beliefs with the same determination as Queen Amidala often did. Either would have been a worthy child of Anakin Skywalker.

There were other samples to be tested, as well. As he entered his shuttle, he mentally ran through the many children ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-one born of royal or noble blood on Alderaan. Many already had DNA on file, and it was merely a matter of having a droid sift through the data. But some, like Winter or Leia, were left off the DNA list because of their station.

Once on the _Devastator_, Vader went straight to his hyperbaric chamber. Divested of his helmet inside, he inserted the two samples in the medical droid's scanner. "DNA Sequence comparison to base samples," he ordered.

"Sample one negative for matches. Sample two positive: 93% match paternal, 99% match maternal. Presence of midi-chlorians noted."

Vader stared, shocked senseless. It had been a hunch, as much a process of elimination as anything. And yet… "Confirm finding."

"Finding confirmed. Sample two is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala Naberrie."

Vader reached with a trembling hand and removed the samples from the scanner. Sample one had been a single white hair lifted from a comb in the palace by one of Vader's agents. Sample two was a lock of brown hair.

Leia. Leia Organa.

Memories bubbled up from the boiling cauldron of his mind. He remembered watching the senate recordings when his master announced the creation of the empire, and how Padmé sat with Organa. He remembered how friendly Organa was with the Jedi, especially Kenobi. He remembered the many meetings that pulled his wife away from him. He had assumed it was a senate issue, but he also remembered how close Bail was to his wife. A friend, but maybe more.

Rage began to burn in him, rage and jealously. Was Bail Organa there when his children were born? Did that man hold his son Luke, or his daughter Leia, while their father screamed in pain under the less than tender mercies of the medical droids on Coruscant? Was Bail more than Leia's adopted father? Was he more to Padmé than just a friend?

He hit his comm button. "Captain Bolvan?"

"Yes, Lord Vader?"

"Prepare my shuttle. Inform Chancellor Organa that I require an audience with him and his family. It is a matter of grave urgency."

"Yes, m'lord!"

Less than an hour later, Darth Vader strode alone through the front entrance of the palace. He noticed the presence of Alderaanian security, but did not care. He felt the presence of the Organas in a small drawing room off from the main audience hall. He strode purposefully past the porter assigned to guide him, and with a blast of the Force blew the doors open.

Bail Organa rose to his feet, his face ashen. "What is the meaning of …agghh!"

His angry demand ended in a startled gurgle. The guards around them responded instantly, drawing their weapons. Without releasing Bail from his Force grip, Vader ignited his lightsaber and easily deflected every shot back into the chest of the shooter, until the Dark Lord stood alone with Bail, Queen Breha and the two surviving dowager princesses, Tia and Rouge. The three women gasped and stepped back from Bail.

"I wish to discuss the adoption of Leia Naberrie Skywalker," Vader said. Despite his rage, he kept his voice even and precise.

"Skywalker?" Queen Breha said. "We never knew her last name. Please, Lord Vader, what is it you want?"

Bail collapsed gasping to the floor. "Were you there when she was born?" Vader demanded.

Bail looked up at the dark mask. "How could Amidala ever have loved you?"

It was the wrong thing to say. Priceless couches hundreds of years old exploded in a shower of wood and satin. Paintings caught fire. The walls themselves shook before Vader's terrible rage. Bail blanched while his family knelt down around him.

"I am losing my patience, Organa," Vader said finally. "Where was she born?"

"Polis Massa," Organa finally said. "She and her brother."

Breha pulled back from her husband, staring in shock. "Bail…?"

"Was Kenobi there?"

Bail sat back and took a deep breath. "He was there." The chancellor looked up, and for a moment Vader saw genuine loss in the man's face. "We tried to save her, you must believe us. But she wouldn't let us. She fought the droids and the medications and everything else we could do for her, until at last she died. Her last words were that there was still good in you. But she was wrong, wasn't she?"

"Bail," Breha breathed, understanding now the secret behind her beautiful daughter. She looked up at the fearsome Sith Lord and knew suddenly who stood behind that mask. "Padmé. Padmé and her young Jedi lover."

"Husband," Vader corrected as he stood staring down at them. "She was my wife. And Obi-Wan took her away from me. And you helped. I killed Obi-Wan for his betrayal."

"And now you will kill me," Bail said with resignation. "If there is anything human left in you, Darth Vader, listen to me now. Please let my family live. They knew nothing of this."

"I never knew my Padmé had survived long enough to have my children," Vader said. "I never knew Luke had survived until after I found his grave on Tatooine. There are no innocents. All will pay for this crime!"

Breha screamed as Vader cut her down. He spun and killed Tia and Rouge next, saving Bail for last.

His Serene Highness, Prince Bail Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan, sat in the middle of his drawing room, holding the hand of his freshly beheaded wife, while staring at Darth Vader with the purest form of hate possible. "She is not your daughter," he spat. "She was raised to the light, and will reject everything you are. Like her mother, she would rather be dead than at your side!"

Vader roared and attacked. He did not stop chopping at the body until there was no body left. Finally alone, the Dark Lord of the Sith stood like a statue, staring into the emptiness while the blood soaked the entire room.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Captain Solo," Raymus Antilles said, "my I introduce Her Highness, Princess Leia Organa."

Solo stood and with military crispness bowed from the waist. "Your Highness," he said. He still wore his Imperial uniform with Corellian bloodstripes on his trousers, though she noted he had removed his rank insignia and several medals. His biography had indicated multiple medals for valor and skill in combat leadership.

"Captain," she said as she sat. Raymus sat beside her, and finally Solo, following proper military etiquette for royalty. "First, let me say on behalf of the Alliance that we appreciate how difficult your decision was, and welcome you wholeheartedly into our ranks."

"Wholeheartedly, with certain caveats," Solo said with a wry grin.

Leia stumbled before the grin. She had expected anger and suspicion, but Solo and those pilots who had come with him were entirely too…practical. "Well, yes. As eager as we are to get you in X-wing fighters, you must understand for security's sake there has to be a debriefing."

"Yeah, I know. I'd do the same." He leaned forward and grinned. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." He leaned back, studying the princess. "While I got you here, though, can I ask a personal question?"

Raymus raised a brow but Leia merely nodded. "All right."

"I knew one of the rebels that led the attack in Toprawa. Bria Tharen. Did you know her?"

"Not well, but we've met," Leia said.

"Who gave her orders?"

"Her immediate superior was Pianat Torbul. The captain of her squadron's command ship was Tedris Bjalin."

"Bjalin?" Solo said in obvious surprise. "Hmm, he did it then. After Tyshapahl we wondered if he would make it. Lost his whole family to…well, us, I guess. Did he make it?"

"All members of Red Hand Squadron were killed on Toprawa," Leia said sadly. "Bria had her orders, but she was the commander of the squadron and ultimately was responsible for getting us information."

"About the Death Star, I know." Han pulled off his class ring and from the interior curve removed a small crystal. "Data chip. Has all the command codes and protocols up to my last duty rotation. Also has a layout of shields and turbolaser towers. A few terabytes of data. It's all I could fit on a crystal that small."

Leia and Raymus both stared. "That is a remarkable gift, Captain Solo," Leia said.

Han shrugged. "It is an insult to a host not to bring a gift," he said. "And, well, you know what they say. Beware of Corellians with gifts."

The rest of the debriefing went smoothly after that, so long as questions remained about the captain's professional endeavors. He admitted to some shady dealings prior to his acceptance at the Imperial Academy on Carida, but would not answer questions about his family or background.

"We all got family secrets," he merely said.

His professional career, however, was extraordinary. And judging by his men, he was definitely officer material. "Well, I believe we will definitely have use for you, Captain," Leia said, wrapping up the interview. "We are on our way to a Rebel base, at which time you will interview with General Dodonna. The General will then decide your assignment. Assuming it is agreeable to you, of course. Do you have any questions for us?"

Han nodded. "Yeah, you guys figure out how to destroy that monster?"

"Not yet," Raymus admitted.

Solo leaned forward. "I joined the Navy to defend against things like that. I don't care if I have to fly a bucket as an ensign. Just make sure when the time comes to take that thing out, that I'm a part of the attack group."

Leia had to struggle not to stare at the sheer intensity of his expression. It was a face of determination and abhorrence, and for a brief moment took her breath away. "I'll keep that in mind, Captain," she promised.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

General Jan Dodonna, veteran of the Clone Wars and supreme Alliance general over starfighter units, stood with his arms crossed and a pensive frown on his face when the ship landed.

As Winter stepped off the ramp into the thick, humid air of Yavin IV, she saw something ominous in the general's expression. "General?" she asked.

"Winter," Jan said. He stepped forward and placed a hand on either of her shoulders. "I have news you should hear from me, before you go into the base."

"What happened?"

"Darth Vader personally murdered Bail," Dodonna said. His voice seemed deep and exhausted as he told her. "And Breha. And Tia, Rouge and likely Celly too."

Winter gasped. "General, it…"

"Vader publicly declared the entire Organa family traitors for conspiring with Jedi rebels, and had the entire city of Aldera destroyed. A warrant has been issued for you and Leia. I'm so very sorry."

Winter struggled to absorb this new data into her world, but it just didn't fit. Bail couldn't be dead. She just spoke to him a few days ago. He just couldn't…. "Winter?" a tremulous voice said behind her.

She turned and saw Kale Naberrie standing a foot away, a look of compassion and horror on his face. "I heard. I… I know how you feel. I'm sorry."

Winter struggled to stop the tears and nodded. "I know you do, Kale." She stepped over and gave the young man a hug. "I know you do. General, this is Kale Naberrie. He was sent by General Kenobi. He witnessed Kenobi's murder. He also states the Empire killed his family, including his sister Senator Pooja Naberrie."

"By the gods," Dodonna said. He stepped forward and took Kale's hand in a firm shake. "You have my deepest sympathies, my boy. I never knew Pooja, but I knew your Aunt Padme very well, and I was a good friend of General Kenobi. Can I ask how you knew him?"

Kale looked from Winter to the bearded general. "He…he found me on Tatooine and placed me with the Naberries. He was trying to train me to be a Jedi when Vader found us."

Dodanna stared at the young man for the longest time. "I'll fill you in on the rest of the story when I have chance," Winter said.

"Of course," the general said. "Forgive my insensitivity. You both must be exhausted. We'll have rooms prepared for you as soon as possible. Space is the only thing this base is not lacking."

As Winter started to leave, she turned and said, "General, does Leia know?"

"I'm not sure. She's been on a mission involving defectors but should be arriving today."

"Let me be the one to tell her," Winter said.

"Of course. I think that would be best."

Winter held out her hand. "Come on, Kale. Let's go find some quarters."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

The Tantive IV settled gracefully to the ground under the firm guidance of Captain Antilles as a flock of birds raced by. From the viewport near the main hatch, Han found himself staring at a range of ancient stepped pyramids rising from the thick green of an even more ancient forest.

"What planet is this?" Ensign Prin asked as she lifted herself up on her tip-toes to look over Han's shoulder.

"Judging by that," Han said, pointing at a red gas giant that took up much of the sky, "I'd say this isn't a planet. It's a moon."

"It's Yavin IV," Princess Leia announced as she swept into the room, clad as always in white senatorial robes. "Captain Solo, General Dodonna has scheduled a meeting with you in twenty minutes. He is very eager to speak with you."

"Oh boy," Han said, unable to completely hide the grin. Leia stopped and looked up at the man.

"Are you sure you were with the Imperial Navy, Captain Solo?"

"That's where my payroll came from."

Leia shook her head and stared down the ramp. Behind Han, Ensign Prin snickered. "I think she likes you, Captain."

Han turned and stared at the young pilot. She stood almost a head taller than Leia, with stylish, short-cropped red hair and mischievous green eyes. "And I would care about your opinion why?"

"Just a woman's intuition," she said, still grinning.

He shook his head. "Kids," he muttered. He led his pilots down the ramp to the stony landing pad just in time to see another woman meeting with the princess. This woman had a shock of white hair and stood very close to Leia as they spoke.

He hid his surprise when the princess bent over as if struck. The white-headed one kept an arm around her shoulders and simply stood there. He was still staring when a young rebel lieutenant arrived to escort them to their meeting.

Dodonna, when they finally met, proved to be just what Han suspected when he heard the name. Old. "General," he said as he took the offered hand.

"Solo. Please have a seat." Han sat down and waited as Dodonna made a show of looking through a datapad, presumably at his record.

"It says here you've faced two court-martials, both for insubordination," Dodonna said.

"Where'd you get that?"

The old general smiled. "I have my sources. Care to talk about them?"

"A commander ordered me to skin a Wookiee slave."

"What happened?"

"I said no."

"Is that all?"

"I said it after I punched his lights out and let the Wookiee go free. Didn't matter, though. I found out later stormtroopers hunted him down and killed him in the middle of the street. I saw an article on the holonet. People didn't even stop to look, like Chewbacca was an animal or something."

"And what of the second?"

"Bard D'Lar."

"It was during this battle you were awarded the Imperial Medal of Honor and promoted to captain."

"Yep."

"What happened?"

"Our commander was an idiot. He ordered us to attack a pirate strong hold with insufficient forces knowing we'd be cut to ribbons. He ordered the attack fully intending to kill us all. I lost ten pilots."

"But you won that battle."

"I don't lose. When I got back, I let the commander know that. And then I punched his lights out."

"I'm beginning to sense a pattern," Dodonna said with a wry chuckle. "Solo, I'm an old man. If I make a mistake, please don't punch my lights out."

Solo couldn't help but return the smile. "I'll try not to, sir."

"I'd like to offer you a commission as colonel in the Alliance," Dodonna said. "Totally aside from the invaluable data you provided on the Death Star, your record as a pilot is extraordinary, and the Princess assures me your pilots are fanatically loyal to you. That is as high a praise as I can think of for a CO. Do you accept?"

"Gladly, General," Solo said. He accepted the insignia, surprised to see they were patterned after the Old Republic military insignia.

"Your first order of business will be to assume immediate command of the X-wing fighter squadrons and to assist in planning an assault on the Death Star."

Dodonna said the last as if expecting an argument, but Han thought about it and nodded. "You know, that makes sense. The defenses I saw were for a capital ship offensive. I bet snub fighters could get through pretty easily."

"That was our analysis as well. We're glad to have you, Colonel."

Solo stood, but paused before leaving. "General, after we landed, I saw some lady speaking to the princess. Looked like bad news. Anything I can know about?"

"The princess's family was murdered two days ago by Darth Vader," Dodonna said sadly. "The Royal House of Alderaan has been completely destroyed except for her, and the Empire has issued warrants and a significant reward for her capture."

Solo nodded to himself sadly. "Yeah, that'd be enough even to break her shell a bit. Thank you for letting me know, General."

"Of course, Colonel."

He left the room and was walking toward the cafeteria when he ran into someone around a corner of the dimly lit temple halls.

Solo was not a small man—he was tall and athletic and massed a good amount. When he ran into someone, intentionally or not, he generally expected the other to bounce back. When he ran into this person, it was like running into a durasteel wall. The newly commissioned colonel bounced back in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry," a gangly teenager said, blushing furiously. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, kid, I'm fine."

"Oh, good." The boy lingered a moment. "Uh, you wouldn't know the way to the cafeteria, would you?"

"I'm on my way now."

The boy's relief was almost comical. "Good. I'm starving!"

Without invitation, he fell in behind Solo and followed along like a puppy. As they walked, Solo revised his previous assessment. The impression of being gangly was more to do with the boy's posture and attitude rather than fact. He stood well over two meters and had a broad expanse of muscle. He looked like the type of inbred farmboy one expected on an agricultural planet.

"So what's your name, kid?"

"Kale Naberrie. What's yours?"

"Han Solo."

"That's a neat name. Are you a pilot?"

"Yep. What about you? How old are you, sixteen?"

"Fifteen. At least that's my official age. We don't know my exact life day."

"Little young to be a pilot."

"I'm not much of one anyway," Kale admitted glumly. "I'm not sure what I'm going to be good at here. I just didn't have anywhere to go. I'm an orphan now."

"Lot of that going around."

They finally reached the cafeteria, which was sparsely populated. Solo led Kale through the line and watched in astonishment as the young man piled his tray with an obscene amount of food. "So, how long has it been since you got fed?" Solo asked.

Kale blushed as always, and then laughed. "My mom says I'm a growing boy."

"Growing into what, a Hutt?" Han laughed. "Come on, kid, let's go eat."

They found a table, and were joined momentarily by newly commissioned Lieutenant Klivian. Vonder joined them as well, brandishing his captain's insignia. "Solo, the old man actually made you a colonel? Man must be going daft."

"Yeah, thought so too," Solo said.

"Who's the kid?" Klivian said.

"Kale Naberrie," Solo said. "He's an orphan, he says."

"Me too," Vonder said, offering a hand. "Careful around Solo, there. I have it on good authority he's a bad influence."

"Influence on who?" Ensign Prin asked as she joined the table.

Kale stared in shock, and Prin's face paled as she saw the young man for the first time. "Kale?" she whispered.

Solo stared. "Good stars above, how could you two possibly know each other?"

Kale stuttered and started to stand. His blush changed and his jaw set, and as the shock passed, fury replaced it. "Run," he said to the blanching Prin, all hint of boyhood gone from his voice. "Run now and you might get away from me."

The pilots couldn't understand what was happening. Ensign Prin, however, seemed to understand all too well. She spun and sprinted away faster than any of the men could follow. Then she began bounding over the tables, and the men realized they were looking at something unnatural.

"What's going on, kid?" Solo demanded, also rising.

"She helped Darth Vader kill my family," Kale said, staring at her as she ran toward the far door. "She's a spy."

"Imperial!" Solo yelled suddenly, pointing. "Stop her, she's a spy!"

Instantly every head in the cafeteria popped up, and almost a dozen pilots surged toward Ensign Prin. Without losing stride, Prin launched herself into an aerobically impossibly kick that put three men on the ground. She rolled quickly out of it, punched another in the gut and then chopped the neck of a fifth man. She somersaulted, spun, punched and kicked through all twelve pilots and continued her run toward the door.

"Bloody stars," Vonder said. "What is she?"

Then Kale jumped after her. Solo watched in shock as the young man vaulted thirty meters into the high, open-ceiling cafeteria over dozens, right over Prin's head, to land with a stunning _thunk_ that cracked the ground under him.

Prin, who dove easily through a dozen trained soldiers, stopped, turned on her heel and ran back toward a side entrance. This time, though, Kale did not wait. Moving faster than Solo's eye could follow, the young man zipped past Prin and stopped directly in front of her. Having recently bumped into him, Solo understood what was about to happen next.

With a squeal of surprise, Prin ran full-speed into Kale Naberrie and bounced off, landing her on the floor. Around them, pilots started forming a semi-circle, but backed off in shock when Kale picked up a four hundred kilo caf dispensing machine with one hand and lifted it like a club.

"Hold it!" Solo yelled as he finally arrived. "Good stars, kid, put that thing down!"

"She helped him kill my family," Kale shouted, shaking with rage. "She works for Darth Vader!"

"Yeah, I heard you," Solo said. "But that's the only caf dispenser I see, and if you beat her to death with it, every pilot here's gonna hate you for breaking the caf dispenser!"

A couple of the pilots laughed in spite of the tension. Kale did not laugh, but flushed furiously under the onslaught. "Would you rather I beat her to death with your ship?" he asked, eyes glinting.

Solo stepped right up to the boy. "You're a strong kid, no doubt," he said. "I bet you could pick me up and throw me like a doll, couldn't you?"

"Yeah."

"But you're not going to, are you? What you're going to do is put that machine down. Gently, please. And we're going to take Ensign Prin here…"

"Her name is Mara Jade."

"Okay, Mara Jade here, and turn her into the base authorities. They'll deal with her. That's the way it works in military bases. You understand me, kid?"

Han's tone was the perfect balance of pleading and ordering. Kale put the caf dispenser down and fought back the tears of rage. "She lied to me," he said to Solo. "She said she loved me. But she was using me to get to my family and to Ben. And she was there when Darth Vader killed him, and my mother."

Solo nodded solemnly and put a hand on Kale's shoulder. "I know, kid. I'm sorry. But when you commit murder, you're putting yourself on her level, and I can see you're better than that. Aren't you?"

Kale wiped his nose with his hand and nodded. Solo turned and looked down at Mara, who sat staring not at Solo or the soldiers around them, but at Kale. She looked at once angry, terrified, and, if he wasn't mistaken, a little…sad? "So, Mara Jade, you're not from Toprawa, are you?"


	8. The Master

**Chapter Eight: The Master**

Leia couldn't believe the security scans.

It was bad enough to have a spy on the base. Dodonna had personally overseen the strip search conducted on Mara Jade, along with Leia and ten armed female guards. The Imperial had withstood the humiliating search with a set jaw and death in her eyes, but said nothing.

What shocked everyone, though, was seeing Kale Naberrie jump across the entire width of a cafeteria designed to seat five thousand, and then pick up a machine weighing as much as three full grown men.

"And he survived a deep space vacuum without any protection for at least an hour," Winter pointed out as she also watched the feed with the Princess, General Dodonna, and Colonel Solo.

Leia noted with approval that Solo had switched to an Alliance-issue uniform. "So what did you say to calm him down?" she asked the colonel.

Solo shrugged. "Kale's an orphan. He needed a father figure and was following me like a puppy, so I just played the part. Good thing, too. I don't mind a dead spy—she fooled Klivian and me. But I'd cry real tears over a broken caf dispenser."

"He is not a droid," Winter said. "I took a few scans on the ship en route, and confirmed that he is a living being."

"Blood test?" Dodonna asked.

Winter grimaced. "Sorry, I couldn't get a needle in. I took a few oral swabs, so I have a trace DNA scan."

"And?"

"No record on file. It is incredibly dense, as well. The standard human has 4 base pairs. The most base pairs on record are Ithorians, who have 8. Kale's DNA has dozens upon dozens of base pairs. The computer could not even identify some of the chemical components in his DNA. There's a real possibility Kale may be extra-galactic."

Leia nodded to herself. "Amazing. He looks so normal."

"More than normal, he's gorgeous," Winter said. She noticed the expressions of the others and shrugged. "It's not a term of affection, it's an accurate description. His face is balanced to within a millimeter of each side—do you realize how rare that is? His musculature is also perfectly symmetrical. He's ambidextrous. Even his hairline is perfectly even. Everything about him screams physical perfection, almost as if he were engineered."

"Is that possible?" Leia asked.

"Genetic engineering is not unheard of," Dodonna said. "The clones in the Clone Wars were engineered to be more compliant and resilient in addition to aging at an accelerated rate."

"But to make something like Kale is beyond our medical capabilities," Winter said. "Kale said General Kenobi found him on Tatooine and was going to train him as a Jedi. Obviously the general saw something in him worthy of training. He has a crystal he says was from his ship, but we are unable to decrypt it at all."

"So he's super strong, can survive a vacuum, and is as far as we can tell invincible," Solo summarized. "Sounds like he might make a pretty good soldier."

Leia shook her head. "Typical. He's the most unique creature in the galaxy, and you want to give him a gun."

"Doesn't even sound like he needs one," Solo snapped back. "Look, your highnessness. I joined this little party of yours to blow up the Death Star and stop the Empire from killing any more planets. That's going to take a lot of fighting. Now, I don't know about you, but I like the idea of having an un-killable super soldier on my side."

"The war won't last forever," Leia said, her nostrils flaring. "Train him to kill now, and that may be the only thing he ever knows."

"Can we stick to the matter at hand?" Dodonna said. "For now we need to keep Miss Jade under tight security. As for Mr. Naberrie, his age alone in my mind precludes the possibility of joining the military. He may be invincible; he may be super strong; but he is also fifteen, and I am not in good conscience going to put a fifteen-year-old in harm's way, invulnerability or not."

Leia nodded with satisfaction and glared a moment at Solo, before returning her attention to the monitor.

There was a knock and the door opened to admit one of the general's aides. "Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but an unscheduled ship has landed."

"What?" Dodonna said in alarm. "How did it get past security?"

"It's a small craft, sir. But even so, I don't know how it was able to get past our sensor net. We didn't notice it until it was on the ground. The pilot is…unique, sir. He said he needs see you must. I mean, he needs to see you."

Dodonna stared at the aide for a long moment. "Ensign, did he really say 'Needs see you must?'"

"His exact words were: 'Need to see Dodonna, I do.'"

Dodonna looked shocked for a moment, and then smiled. "Let me guess. He is green, with long ears, and stands around 65 centimeters high?"

The aide nodded, mystified.

"Well, it seems we have been honored by a visit from the last living Jedi Master," Dodonna said. "Let's go meet Master Yoda."

With Dodonna in the lead, the small party marched through the base until they came to the entrance of the Massassi temple that served as the Alliance's main hangar. The ship in question was barely the size of an escape pod, although given the size of the lone occupant, that seemed to have been enough.

Leia especially stared in shock that this tiny creature was the infamous Jedi Master from the Clone Wars. Her father had spoken so often of him, she was expecting to see a giant. To think, this little creature had faced Palpatine?

Dodonna did not have any such thoughts as he knelt down before the Jedi. "Master Yoda," he said in open reverence. "You may not remember me, but I served with you for a time during the Clone Wars."

"Remember you I do, young Jan," the creature said in a high, nasal voice. "Well you have done to join this fight." Yoda looked up and scanned the faces of those around him. "But came not to fight, I did. Compels me, the Force does. Changed, our plans have."

Yoda slowly walked over the cobblestones of the Massassi portico to stand directly before Leia. "Come for you, I have, Leia Organa. Trained as Jedi you must be, if you are to survive to save the galaxy."

"I don't understand," Leia said, suddenly fighting down a sense of terrible dread as bad as when Winter told her of her loss.

"A Jedi your father was," Yoda said. "And a Jedi you must become." He nodded to Dodonna. "Now rest, I must."

They watched in silence as the tiny Jedi walked toward the hangar. "Jedi Master, huh?" Solo said. "No wonder the Empire won."

"During the Battle of Coruscant near the end of the Clone Wars," Dodonna said, "he single-handedly destroyed four C-9979 landing craft using the Force. And he held off five battalions of super battle droids with Mace Windu. He was literally moving mountains with his mind, Colonel Solo. I'll admit it's hard to envision, but Yoda was the most powerful of all the Jedi." He turned to Leia. "I can't say I know why he wants to train you, but if he says you are to be a Jedi, then m'lady, you will be a Jedi to remember."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"You cut your hair," Kale said.

Mara Jade stared back at him, her face a mask.

"You must have thought I was such an idiot," he said. "Who are we kidding? I was an idiot. To think someone so beautiful could like me. Mother was right about you not liking me for me, she just didn't know the real reason, that's all."

Kale sat alone on a small stool facing the bars of the cell. The brig was improvised, but the improvisation was an effective one. The room's walls were incredibly thick stone, and the only opening was blocked by deeply driven durasteel bars. Mara was not going anywhere.

"First time I saw you, it was your hair I noticed," Kale continued. Although he faced her, his eyes were on a point of the wall to one side of her face. "Gods, you were so beautiful. I should have known. I should have known you were going to break my heart."

"You are a fool, Kale," Mara finally said. "You're fifteen years old. How could you possibly have known what I was? You're sitting there kicking yourself for something you had no control over. Why do you think I chose you? You could no more have resisted me than I could have resisted my master."

Kale leaned back, staring at her. "Did you send the star destroyer that killed Pooja and the rest of my family?"

Mara shook her head, but kept her face passive. "My master sent it after my initial report. We've known about the rendezvous point for weeks. It's how we traced Kenobi to Naboo. We just didn't know where on Naboo he was. We suspected, though. That's why I was sent to you."

He nodded as his fears were confirmed. "I was holding my sister when she died. The ship blew up and she was in my arms, and I watched her…." He stopped, his voice stuck in his throat. He leaned forward then, clasping his hands as he stared at the floor.

"I am an agent of the Empire, Kale," Mara said. "I do my duty and I don't apologize for it. You were not the initial target, but when you struck Darth Vader, you became one. If my master orders me to kill you, I will die trying."

Kale stared at her for the longest time, his eyes red. "And you wouldn't shed a tear, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't."

Kale stood and picked up the stool. It was made of regular wrought iron. He began to crush and bend the iron, reducing the stool in the end to a ball of iron the size of his fist. He tossed it between the bars to the floor, where it struck and cracked the flagstones. "If you ever do try and kill me, you probably will die," he said at last. "But I guess I'm just not like you, Mara. Because if I ever do have to kill you, I probably will shed a tear."

He turned and left. Mara waited until he was gone, and then lifted up the ball of crushed metal. "You're a better person than I," she said softly.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Leia stared in horror at the diminutive master. "I don't believe you."

"Reason it is why Vader murdered your family," Yoda said. "Discovered your relationship he has. Alive you are wanted, to be taken to him and trained as Sith."

The princess sat down on the bench facing the cot the Jedi master sat on. She grasped at her stomach and fought the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her. "And you said I had a brother?"

"Died he did, on Tattooine as a young boy," Yoda said. "Watch him, Obi-Wan did not."

Leia nodded. "That explains why Obi-Wan was there when he found Kale."

Yoda sat perfectly still. "Who is Kale?"

"Kale Naberrie. When Dodonna said Jedi Master, I thought you were coming for Kale. He said General Kenobi was trying to train him as a Jedi."

"Keep this from me, Obi-Wan did," Yoda admitted. "Strange. Very strange that tell me Obi-wan did not. Train you, I will. But meet with this Kale I will do as well. But first you must learn. Time to meet him we will have."

"But Master Yoda, there is so much I don't understand. How could my father be Darth Vader? Who is my mother if not Queen Breha? I have a memory of a sad smile and nothing else. Please, I have to know."

Yoda nodded. "No point there is, keeping it secret. I shall tell you all." And he did, leaving nothing out. Leia listened alternately with shock, despair and joy the story of her parents. When she realized that Pooja Naberrie was not just a friend, but also a cousin, she mourned even more. To think she had an entire family snuffed out from her.

But that also meant that Kale Naberrie was her cousin. That thought made her view the impossible young man with a warmth she would never have believed. He was her cousin, and she would take care of him in any way she could.

"Thank you for telling me, Master Yoda."

"How feel you, knowing Vader, your father is."

Leia had only met Lord Vader a handful of times, but knew of his crimes through her time with the rebellion. "He is a monster," she said. "He is not the man a Queen of Naboo would fall in love with. I have to assume the Sith Lord killed the Jedi Knight as surely as if he'd struck him down with a lightsaber."

Yoda patted her hand gently. His skin felt old, callused. "Wise beyond your years you are, Princess. A great Jedi, will you be."

She accepted his praise with a smile. "So, how do I become a Jedi?"

She soon learned that becoming a Jedi meant running until becoming sick. Leia was a product of an elite education that took into account the needs of the body as well as the needs of the mind. She was in peak physical condition and always had been. But with a Jedi Master on her back, Leia learned just what physical training could mean as he made her run through the thick forests of Yavin IV.

After running for an interminable time, he allowed her to collapse at the edge of a waterfall, where she gasped for breath. "Through the Force, energy one can gain," Yoda said. "Strength you can find, replenishment and comfort. Close your eyes. Feel the Force."

As Yoda spoke, Leia closed her eyes. She felt a gentle tickle in the back of her mind, and realized it was the Jedi himself, guiding her. Suddenly, it felt as if someone had flipped a switch in her mind. She felt a cascade of light around her, through her. The light was colorless but warm, and seemed to soak into her body. "Is this the Force?" she whispered with awe.

"Yes," Yoda said. "As a child, dim you to the Force we did, to protect you. In time, the barrier would have fallen. Strong you are in the Force. Time for you to find it on your own, we do not have. Removed the barrier, I have. Fully now, feel the Force you do."

"It's incredible." She felt her muscles begin to unknot, and her breathing came easier as the warmth seemed to melt away her exhaustion.

"The Force is the strength of the Jedi," Yoda said. "Speed, endurance, strength—the Force gives these things. But also healing, vision, knowledge. For those with wisdom, the Force is the greatest of all teachers."

"By the stars," Leia whispered.

Then it was gone as she felt a stick tap her head. "Enough for now," Yoda said. "Well you have done. Old to begin you are, but strong in the Force. Now, back we must go. I am hungry."

Leia couldn't help but smile. She helped him into the back pack and walked peacefully back to the base.

"Of Kale, we should talk," Yoda said.

Leia passed on what she knew, which was little enough. Still, Yoda listened intently but said nothing until they reached the base. "Take me to him, you will," Yoda said. Leia was still too awed by the master to remind him to say please, and ignoring the startled looks of the base personnel, did as he asked.

Not surprisingly, Kale was in the cafeteria eating a nerf burger and a pile of socha chips. His cup was filled with blue milk. He looked like a kid in a school cafeteria, not an orphan in a military base.

"Hello, Kale," Leia said as she and Yoda arrived at his table.

"Princess!" Kale clumsily rose to his feet, knocking over his milk in the process while trying to give an awkward bow. All in all, it was one of the more painful things Leia had ever seen. For some reason, it made him even more endearing now that she knew they were related by law, if not really by blood.

"Kale, it's all right, please sit down."

"Okay." He sat down, obviously relieved. Then he saw the small creature on her back and stared unabashedly as Yoda lifted himself out and stepped onto the table top itself. He stood studying Kale for the longest time.

"Uh, hi," Kale said.

Yoda nodded. "Knew Obi-Wan, you did?"

"You mean Ben? Yeah."

"Trained with him, you did?"

"A little. He taught me a kata or two. Or tried. I guess I wasn't as good a student as he wanted me to be."

Without warning, to Leia's horror and the shock of the dozen or so nearby pilots and technicians, Yoda whipped out a short green lightsaber and slashed viciously at Kale. Kale responded faster than Leia could even see and caught the blade in his hand.

The moment froze, with the Jedi master wielding the blade, and Kale holding it in his hand as if it were a stick. Then Yoda deactivated the blade and stuffed it back into his tiny, home-spun robe. "Burned, your hand is?" the Jedi asked calmly.

"What were you doing?" Kale demanded. "That hurt!"

"Pass, the hurt will," Yoda said. "For sure I had to be. May I see your hand?"

With a look at Leia, Kale opened his hand and showed the blackened scorch mark across his palm. "Already healing it is," Yoda said softly as he examined the wound. He stepped forward and gently touched Kale's forehead. "A hole in the Force you are. I sense nothing of you. And yet, Obi-Wan tried to train you?"

"He said I could touch the Force when I tried."

"Show me."

Kale closed his eyes, and nearby a table dumped its three diners and went flipping through the air to shatter against a wall. "That was incredible," Leia whispered.

"I was just trying to levitate it a little," he admitted mournfully. "And that wasn't the table I was trying to move."

Yoda, however, looked as if he had been struck and reared back so violently he nearly fell from the table. "Impossible, this is," he whispered. "Princess, please, time to return to my quarters it is."

With a last nod to Kale, Leia took Yoda back to his quarters. "Master Yoda, are you all right?" she asked when he was situated on his mattress.

"Tired, I am. Rest I must." He waved a dismissive hand. "Train again we will, tomorrow. Go now, please."

Leia nodded and left the room, only to run head-first into Colonel Solo. "Nice outfit," the colonel said appraisingly.

Leia rolled her eyes. "Don't you have anything better to do than insult me?"

"I could think of lots of things I'd rather do than insult you," he said. "What were you thinking? Maybe we could compare notes."

She stared at him a moment, not realizing exactly what he was saying. When it clicked, the nineteen-year-old princess ground her teeth. "Colonel, I am a princess and a senator, and I will not tolerate such behavior in one of our officers."

"Of course, your highnessness," he said. "Although I have to say if I have to kiss someone's rear, I'd rather it be yours."

"Urrgghhh!" She spun and marched away and Han clucked his tongue.

"Smart move, flyboy," he muttered. He continued on his original course, until he arrived at the make-shift brig. He stepped past the guard with a nod and strode down the narrow hall until he reached the cell.

One of the bars had been melted, and Mara Jade was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh Krif," he muttered.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Yes, my master," Mara whispered to herself. Her eyes were squeezed shut. When she opened them, her master's voice still echoed in her mind, but the cell and the hallway beyond were empty.

She lifted the right leg of her trousers and ran a hand along her smooth shin, until she felt a slight thickening. Without expression, she dug at the skin until a flap came loose under the short-cropped nail. She pulled a long strip of flesh-colored material from her leg and held it in front of her. She pulled the strip apart at the middle and pressed each half against a stretch of bar, then stepped back. She pulled the rest of the synthflesh off, revealing her natural skin underneath.

Smoke appeared as the acidic material began eating away at the bars. In less than a minute, the bar came loose. She caught it and placed it on the floor of her cell, and then in a feat of flexibility squeezed through the small opening until she stood free in the hall.

She ran toward the end of the hall and found a narrow, caved-in passage. With a glance down the hall at the sentries, she began removing rock until a finger of light stabbed through between the rocks. She removed a few more, gasped at the humid air outside, and again forced her lithe body into the late afternoon light of Yavin IV.

It was not enough just to be free, of course. Her master's orders were clear. Her first order of business had to be to procure a ship. This was easily done—she found a bevy of shuttles and private frigates used for transportation of supplies and personnel, and simply picked one at random. From her chosen ship, she found a rebel flight suit that was not too large, and quickly changed.

The next step, however, would be more difficult. Mara moved around the periphery of the base, staying within the line of trees where she could, walking brazenly in her rebel flight suit where she could not, until she reached the pyramid with personnel housing.

Once there, she slipped her flight helmet on over her hair, but left the visor up, and walked in as if she belonged there. With her hair covered and in a rebel flight suit, no one thought to stop her. She was, as far as anyone knew, on her way to her quarters.

She did arrive at a set of quarters, though not hers, and rang the announcer. A moment later, the little princess opened the door. "Yes?" Leia's eyes widened immediately as she recognized Mara and she began backing away.

Mara lashed out with a foot, expecting to have her target down in a second. She underestimated Leia's own combat training, however. Leia knew how to defend herself, and slapped the kick away with practiced efficiency.

Mara did not allow the setback to deter her and followed the kick with a flurry of punches that Leia was hard-pressed to stop. More than a few got through, and with each successful blow, her defenses slipped a little more, until she was so busy blocking punches she did not even see the whip-fast kick that slammed into her stomach and knocked her to the floor.

"Been fun, Princess, but I got things to do, people to see," Mara muttered as she delivered a precise, measured blow to the back of Leia's head; the princess collapsed without a sound. Mara quickly looked around and spotted what she had prayed would be there—a hoversled on which the princess took her meal.

The princess was a small woman—Mara had little difficulty lifting her to the top of the sled, after which she covered her with a blanket. For effect, she then threw on a few clothing items. "No bras," she muttered, shaking her head at Alderaanian clothing customs. "But this will work."

When the sled looked like it was merely piled with a bunch of dirty laundry, she pushed the sled to the door, which opened obediently to reveal Han Solo, his hand raised to knock.

"What the…"

Mara kicked again, and this time her victim was not fast enough to block the kick. However, Solo was a head taller and much stronger physically than the princess and so merely shook the kick off. Mara followed with a kick to his stomach and groin. The first connected with an out rush of air from the colonel. The second, however, ended with a snap that Mara felt immediately as her large toe breaking.

He shook off her other kicks and then grinned. "Corellian fighters wear cups," he said. Then he swung. It was a fast, confident blow that against any other opponent would have landed successfully.

Mara was no ordinary opponent. She stepped aside, catching his wrist with both her arms as she turned her back toward him, bent forward, and threw him over her head in a classic Teras Kasi move. The colonel landed on his back, stunned for just long enough for Mara to kick his temple. He did not move after.

Huffing, she grabbed the sled and started pushing it down the hall. This was turning out to be harder and more painful than she thought, although she knew it could have been a lot worse.

Kale could have shown up.

She continued walking with the sled of "laundry" without incident. Those around her did not even seem to notice her, although she was sure that had more to do with the sheer shimmersilk panties she sprinkled liberally over the princess than because of the uniform. No one wanted to look at dirty undergarments if they didn't have to.

It was simplicity in and of itself to then remove the princess to the shuttle and take off. She ignored the flight controller's orders to land, knowing full well she would be away from the moon before they could summon a fighter to take her out. Solo had just spent two hours drilling his pilots, and so nothing was in the air except the standard patrol, which would have been on the far side of the gas giant Yavin by now.

Once she was away from the gravitational well of the gas giant, she set her course, and the ship disappeared into hyperspace with Princess Leia Organa tucked safely aboard.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Yeah, she had a heck of a kick, too," Colonel Solo admitted as he rubbed the large bruise on the side of his head. "Where do you think she took the princess?"

"I could wager a guess," Dodonna said.

"To the Death Star, the princess has been taken," Yoda said. "Darth Vader returned there after slaughtering the Organas on Alderaan. Awaits her, he does."

Solo stared at the little Jedi. "And how would you know that?"

"Saw it, I did," Yoda said. "But too late I was to stop it. The Dark Side is strong here, it clouds everything. Safe from harm, she is. Vader wishes to train her."

"But the base's location has been compromised," Dodonna said. "There is simply no way we can withstand a full attack by the Death Star."

"We may not have to," Solo said. "If we can destroy it before it gets here, we should at least have enough time to stage an evacuation. You saw those plans, General. A solid hit on that thermal exhaust port and that station is gone."

"I can't give the order to destroy the station with Leia aboard, not unless there is absolutely no hope."

"You'd risk the entire Rebel Alliance for her?" Solo demanded.

Dodonna returned his look. "Wouldn't you?"

Han studied the other man for a long time, and then grinned. "Yeah, I guess I would. But I'm an idiot with a thing for short brunettes."

Winter, who had been the one to find an unconscious Solo in her friend's quarters, said: "Any chance we can get her back?"

Solo sat up and stared first at her, then Dodonna. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, there might be. My security codes should still be active. I saw you had a captured shuttle in your hangar bay. Maybe we could just shuttle up and say hi."

"Even so, Colonel," Dodonna said, "I have to assume you would have a difficult time getting the Princess away from Darth Vader himself."

"Solo would," Winter said, "but I know someone who could do it."

"Hmmph," Yoda said. "Dangerous it would be, to use Kale."

All three pairs of eyes turned and stared. "You know something about him, Master Yoda?" General Dodonna asked.

"Know you, the Followers of Palawa?"

Han and Dodonna both shook their heads, but Winter nodded. "They were one of the forerunners to the Jedi. Palawa created Teras Kasi."

"In the Jedi library, from texts taken from the ancient library at Ossus, there was a scroll that tells of Pal-Awa. Great in the Force was he, able to fly without machines, able to move mountains with his hands. A god he was. Great evil did he commit, in addition to great good. Kale is of his kind. A god he could be, or the greatest evil. Dangerous it is to use him at all, since never will he be controlled."

Solo cleared his throat. "Well, he didn't act like a god. He acted like a kid who wanted to do the right thing. And saving the princess is the right thing. I want to go, General, and I think Kale should come as well."

"And me," Winter said. "I have the station layout memorized and would be able to get us out if necessary."

"On this matter, spoken I have," Yoda said.

Dodonna bowed his head in thought. "Master Yoda, you cannot imagine how deeply I respect your opinion. But she is more than just my friend—she is the last thing I have of Bail. I have to do everything I can to save her." He turned to Solo and Winter. "Prepare your team. Ask Kale if he'll go, but do not push him. Use whatever resources you need."

Solo nodded and stood abruptly. "You'll get her back, General," he said. "I promise."


	9. Touched By Darkness

**Chapter Nine: Touched By Darkness**

Mara lay prostrate on the floor, her head against the grating of Darth Vader's chambers, while the holoimage of the Emperor spoke.

"You have done well, Mara Jade. Soon, the Rebellion will be crushed."

"And Kale Naberrie, Master?"

"He will die when Yavin IV does," the Emperor said. "Lord Vader?"

"Yes, my master." Vader knelt a few meters away from where Mara prostrated herself.

"Inform Moff Tarkin of his new target, and ensure the moon is destroyed. Naberrie is as much a threat to the galaxy as the rebellion itself. Failure will not be tolerated."

"It shall be done, my master," Vader said.

"And when the rebellion is crushed, Lord Vader, you are to bring your daughter to me."

Vader bowed, "As you command, my Master."

The image blinked out of existence. Vader stood and found Mara staring at him. "Daughter? The princess is your daughter?"

"Yes, Jade," Vader said. "And I was most displeased to see the harm you did her."

Mara's eyes blazed. "I brought her to you."

"Which is why, Mara Jade, you are alive." Vader motioned to the door. "You are my master's servant, and this affords you a level of protection. But there are limits to that protection. Remember that."

Mara was tempted to argue the point further, but knew better and left.

Once alone, Vader turned away from the door and the holo pad and walked toward the newest addition to his Death Star quarters. He entered the security code and stepped inside a spacious, well appointed room.

The princess, dressed now in a featureless white dress, stood from the couch she was resting on. "I know who you are," she said. "But don't think for a moment you are my father. Bail Organa was my father. You are nothing more than his murderer."

Vader stood watching her. "I was a fool not to have seen it sooner," he said. "You look much like her."

"You mean my mother? You killed her sister, didn't you? My aunt. My whole family, both adopted and blood. You've killed everyone I could ever have hoped to love."

"I do what I have to do," Vader said. He lifted a hand, and Leia gasped as a force pushed her back down to the edge of the bed. "You have no idea of the power of the Dark Side, Leia. I must do as my master commands."

"So you're a slave then," Leia sneered.

With a roar Vader flew across the room and, with a gloved cybernetic around her neck, flung Leia against the cold durasteel wall of her prison. Gasping for breath, she whispered, "Is this how you killed my mother?"

Abruptly Vader dropped her to the floor and backed away, holding his hand out before him as if it were on fire. Leia picked herself up, touching her bruised neck gingerly. "That's how you did it, isn't it? Choking her. Did you use your hands, or the Force? Did you feel anything when you killed her, _Father_?"

"I would have died for her," she heard an almost human voice say.

"But you didn't, did you?" Leia snarled. "Instead, you KILLED HER! And then twenty years later you killed her sister! And her brother-in-law! Her mother and her nieces. You killed everything left of Padmé. How can you possibly expect me to view you as anything other than a murdering, monstrous bastard!"

Vader stiffened and stood tall, his mechanical breath slowing. "I sense much hatred in you," he said, very calm now. All note of humanity was lost to Leia's ears. "That is the path to the Dark Side. The Emperor was right to want to train you. As soon as your rebel base has been destroyed, your destiny will lie with the Sith."

He turned and strode out of the room. When he was gone, Leia sat down on the bed, and then began pounding it over and over again, fighting the tears that threatened.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Kale sat wringing his hands and staring at the cockpit. He wore the uniform of an Imperial ensign. In the cockpit, he could hear Solo and Winter talking. Solo wore his old captain's uniform, while Winter wore a lieutenant's uniform. They were talking about Leia, of course. Not realizing that he could hear them, the conversation was of a nature that made the young Kale's cheeks blaze.

"So she's only had one boyfriend, huh?' Solo said.

"Colonel, don't you think she's a little young for you?" Winter noted. "She's nineteen. You're quite a bit older than that, I would think."

"By about ten years," Solo confessed with a grin. "But I'm young at heart. **'**Specially when I look at her."

Winter chuckled. "You are a pirate at heart, Colonel."

Solo sobered. "It shows, huh?"

"Let's just say I am very good at digging. Does the name Vykk Draygo mean anything?"

Solo shrugged. "Hard times. I did what I had to do to survive and I'm not about to apologize for it. You wouldn't know much about hard times, would you? You're just a girl yourself."

"My family was just slaughtered and my city destroyed, Colonel," Winter said coldly. "I'm living my hard times right now."

"Yeah, you are. Sorry." They were quiet for a long time. "I'm gonna get her back for you," he finally said. "I was kind of a nerfherder to her last time we spoke. If nothing else, I don't want those to be the last words she hears from me."

"You like her that much?"

Solo shrugged. "That, or I'm going to kill her myself."

Winter laughed. "Good luck. Now that Kale knows she's his last family, I don't think you'd get a chance."

Solo grunted, and then turned to look into the passenger section of the ship. "How'ya doing back there, kid?"

"Fine, thank you," Kale lied. "How much longer till we die again?"

Han grinned. "About ten minutes."

"Okay, thanks."

Unable to stand the wait any longer, Kale stood and walked to the cockpit, where he sat in a secondary navigator's seat. Ahead, they could make out the increasingly large orb of the Death Star. "It's already moving at a pretty good pace at sublight," Han said. "We're lucky we caught it when we did."

"How long do you think we'll have?" Winter asked.

"It has some pretty powerful hyperdrive engines. It could make it to Yavin in less than a day."

"And then?"

"No more Yavin IV." Han stared at the station with open hate. "You should have been at Toprawa. Something like that shouldn't be allowed to exist. The minds that created it shouldn't be allowed to exist."

The speaker beeped: "Incoming shuttle, provide your security clearance and identity."

Solo leaned forward. "This is the Shuttle _Rynterium_, we are transmitting our security codes now."

A tense moment later: "Acknowledged, _Rynterium_. You are clear to land in hanger 2345-A."

"Acknowledged, _Rynterium_ out." Han thumbed off the com switch and sighed. "Well, at least they haven't updated the codes yet."

Winter stared. "You weren't sure?"

"They change the codes every thirty days. I defected at the beginning of this month, and it's only been three weeks, so I was pretty sure. But you can never know anything for certain."

He brought the shuttle into the designated hangar with quick efficiency, and as soon as they landed, they felt a shudder run up through the floor of the station into the shuttle itself. "We just jumped," Han said. "We're definitely on the clock now."

They stepped out of the shuttle and were met immediately by a quartermaster's clerk and two storm troopers. The clerk snapped to attention and saluted. Solo returned the salute with Imperial crispness. "Corporal," he said. "I'm Captain Sneder Thoms reporting for duty. This is Lieutenant Demarr and Ensign Josef. Here are our orders."

The data chip was Imperial; the orders were not. However, since many of the rebellion's best hackers defected from the Empire themselves, the orders were written in the right format, using the right language. The corporal slipped the chip into his data pad, nodded at the readout, and then quickly typed in a few orders.

"Quarters have been assigned and your duty roster has been updated. There will be a general orientation for new staff at 14:00 hours. The location has been sent to your quarters." He handed each of them a small datapad. "This provides a map to your quarters and key locations for your duties. Further maps will be provided as needed. Welcome aboard, gentlemen, and lieutenant." He nodded and he and his escort walked away.

"That seemed too easy," Winter said.

"Getting in has always been easier than getting out," Solo said. "Come on. We don't have much time."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

They met in Solo's new quarters, which looked suspiciously like Solo's old quarters. This, of course, had everything to do with rank and nothing to do with coincidence. Officer quarters were the same all over the station.

"Okay, Winter, do your stuff," Solo said as he handed her his computer interface board. Winter smiled absently, her mind already on the task ahead. Kale watched as well as Winter skillfully began slicing into the computer.

"We can't afford to attract attention by going into restricted files," she said absently as she worked. "But the Quartermaster's records appear open." She managed to pull up a floor plan of what looked like a huge apartment. "The Grand Moff appears to have over 3,000 square meters of living space."

"That's a lot of space," Han agreed.

"The Emperor's throne room and quarters when he's on board have over ten thousand square meters."

"Big surprise there."

Winter clicked her tongue. "This is interesting. This room doesn't have a specific occupant listed, but is shown as permanently reserved. It's as large as Tarkin's, but look—it was just remodeled, and I mean in the past day, to include a second room. According to these records, the new room is a secured entry area."

Han nodded. "That's it. Has to be."

"So what do we do?" Kale asked.

Solo shrugged. "I'm not much for playing around. I say we go down, knock on Vadey's door, you knock him out and we get the princess back."

Kale stared at Han as if he were insane. "That's Darth Vader."

"You knocked him out before, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't expecting it."

"Well, this time he'll know what to expect," Han said with a grin. "Unless Winter here has a better idea."

"The easiest thing to do would be to wait until Lord Vader leaves his room," Winter said. "Or cause a distraction to lure him out while we go in and get her."

Han stared at her. "You've got a sharp brain in that pretty head of yours, don't you?"

"Why Colonel Solo, are you flirting with me? What would your girlfriend Leia say?"

"Probably good riddance," Solo said with a grin before he stood and stretched. "So, distractions. We could either start shooting the walls and get killed, or an invincible super strong teenager could go on a rampage through the station. Any ideas from you guys?"

"I think I could do that," Kale said. "And I could always run away if he came."

"Okay. Keep your coms open."

Half an hour later, Kale—still in his ensign's uniform—stepped into the large briefing room where he was supposed to go through orientation for living on the Death Star. The room was filled with Imperial staff. He was surprised to see a large number of women in addition to the men—he was always told by Pooja how the Navy discriminated against women. Then he noticed most of the women were enlisted, and those that were officers were rarely higher ranked than lieutenant.

A captain walked onto the raised dais at the end of the room and cleared his throat. With the harmonics of the room, his voice was audible to everyone present. "Welcome to the Death Star, the Empire's greatest tool for peace. You have the privilege of being a part of history here. And make no mistake, your being here is a privilege. Now, before we begin, are there any questions?"

He asked it as a rhetorical question, and when Kale raised his hand, the captain glowered. "Yes, Ensign..what is your name?"

"Naberrie, sir," Kale said. "Kale Naberrie. If I were wanted by Darth Vader for punching him in the face and breaking his mask, what type of security would the Death Star be able to send to try and catch me?"

The Imperial captain stared. "Is this some type of joke?"

"I don't think so." Kale looked around at the hostile, staring faces.

"There are over six hundred thousand troops on this station, and an additional 26,000 storm troopers," the captain said. He stepped off the dais and walked through the aisle toward Kale. "If anyone wanted by Lord Vader were stupid enough to set foot on this station, that person would most certainly not live to step off it again." He reached for his blaster.

Kale shrugged. "What if that person were impervious to blasters and lightsabers, super strong and faster than the human eye could see?"

The captain pulled his blaster. "I would say such a person would be a foolish, lying imbecile. Are you an imbecile, Ensign Naberrie?"

"My sister would say yes," Kale said. "But that was before you bastards killed her." He rushed forward, faster than anyone could follow, and hit the captain square in the chest. The unfortunate man flew across the briefing room and collapsed**,** gasping desperately on the dais.

"My name is Kale Naberrie," Kale said again as he walked toward the doomed captain. "My mother was Sola Naberrie, my father was Darred Janren of Naboo. I am brother to Senator Pooja Naberrie. Darth Vader killed my family. I'm here to take it out on your little toy." He picked the still gasping captain up, just as a squad of storm troopers arrived.

"Drop him!" the lead trooper commanded.

"Okay," Kale said. He did not quite drop him. Rather, he flung the man over his head like a ball, directly into the storm troopers. He then walked out of the room as Imperial Navy personnel watched in shock.

Across the station, Vader meditated in his hyperbaric chamber when he felt a disturbance in the Force. He ordered his helmet on, and as he stepped out, a lieutenant rushed into his chambers and bowed. "Lord Vader, my apologies. There has been a security breach. A man claiming to be a Kale Naberrie has attacked station staff and is on the loose."

Vader became absolutely still. "They are after the princess," Vader whispered. To the lieutenant, he said, "I want a squadron of storm troopers outside my chambers in one minute. I will deal with the boy personally."

"Yes, sir."

Vader strode out just as a squad of stormtroopers arrived. A second after, Imperial Captain Sneder Thoms and Lieutenant Demarr arrived with their side arms ready. "Lieutenant," Solo said. "We just passed Lord Vader. Is the room secure?"

The lieutenant snapped to attention. "Yes, sir."

Solo stepped past him. "See that it remains so. We will be just inside the door. If anyone other than Lord Vader himself approaches, you are to detain them. The prisoner within Lord Vader's quarters is to be protected at all costs."

The lieutenant nodded. "Yes, sir!"

"Good man," Solo said. He opened Vader's doors, and with Winter by his side, stepped inside and locked them.

"You have to be the best liar I have ever seen," Winter said with open wonder. "For a moment I thought you were actually going to turn me in."

Solo looked hurt for a second, then grinned. "Nah, you'd be wasted in the Navy. They have an ugly quota you just couldn't meet." They walked to the second locked door across the Dark Lord's spacious but sparsely furnished chambers.

"Can you get it open?"

"I saw the security code back in your quarters," Winter said. She entered the number, but nothing happened. "Stars end! He must have changed the code." She removed a small datapad from her pocket. "All right, time to slice."

Solo watched with genuine admiration as Winter sliced through the layers of security codes, until with a final touch of her datapad, the door slid open. Solo stepped in and found Leia standing by a large bed, desperately clutching the footboard.

"Hey, you miss me?" Solo asked.

"You…you!" she sputtered, then gave up on finding the perfect retort and with a strangled gasp ran straight at him and wrapped him in a hug. Then she stepped back. "You nerfherder, you let Jade get away with me!"

Solo shrugged. "Yeah, well, I ain't going around bragging about getting my rear kicked by a woman, if it's all the same."

From behind them, a woman's voice said: "Don't worry, Solo. It'll be our little secret."

The three rebels turned to see Mara Jade standing in the entrance, flanked by a dozen stormtroopers. The spy now wore the uniform and insignia of a major, and she had a blaster trained on them. "Lord Vader suspected you might make a try for the princess. But it's too late." The floor under them shuddered, and Han realized the station had dropped out of hyperspace. "The rebel base will be gone in mere minutes. "You're a dead man, Han Solo."

Leia grabbed Han and stepped in front of him. "Go ahead and fire," she said. "Fire on the daughter of Darth Vader."

Mara cursed and pointed the blaster up. "Take them," she said. "No blasters."

"Kale," Han said urgently into his com. "We'd love to see ya, kid!"

Kale, meanwhile, was busy running through the halls of the space station. He knew he was traveling a little faster than he should have based on a trail of sprawled bodies, flimsiplasts and trash caught up in his wake. He entered his fourth hangar bay filled with rows upon rows of TIE fighters.

He had discovered that if he ran fast enough, he could go right through the solar panels of a TIE like shears going through flimsiplast. He crossed his arms in front of his face and ran straight down one row of fighters, crashing through panels every second. When he reached the end of the row, he moved to the next one and ran back.

By the time the stormtroopers caught up to him, he had effectively disabled five hundred fighters and was already moving on to the next hangar.

He was on his way to his fifth hangar when something hit him with enough force to stop him cold and knock him on his back. He picked himself up, shaking his head, and found himself staring at an e-web blaster cannon set up in the middle of the hall. Standing beside the cannon was none other than Darth Vader.

"Kale Naberrie," the Dark Lord said. "Even the Emperor underestimated you. Not this time."

The air around Kale shimmered, and just as quickly he found himself floating. "Ray shields," Vader said. "Plus a reversed gravity plate. I will not let you escape me again."

Kale stared at the Dark Lord, then down at the floor half a meter below him. Around him storm troopers rushed to set up additional e-webs, until he was surrounded by six of the heavy guns. "Remove the shielding," Vader ordered.

The air ceased shimmering, but Kale was still stranded in midair.

"Open fire, and continue firing until I say otherwise," Vader ordered.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"General, we have no choice," Captain "Dutch" Vander said. "We have to launch everything we have right now if we have any hope of stopping that station."

Dodonna turned to Yoda, who sat on a stool near the command center, staring at the tactical display. The Death Star was in a fast orbit of the gas giant and would be in range of the moon in less than an hour. "Launch the fighters," the general said. "And get all non-essential personnel off the moon."

"Yes, sir!"

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Han discovered that it caused more harm to the attacker to punch a storm trooper helmet than it did to the assaulted trooper. If he was a more philosophical man, he would have been able to figure this out without direct experience.

However, when the storm troopers rushed in, he responded by instinct. Then he spent the rest of the fight cursing over his bleeding knuckles. Very quickly he discovered a more efficient method of dealing with a man in armor was to remove the helmet and then slam it repeatedly into the exposed head until the trooper in question fell down. This provided a much more satisfactory result, and was the course of action Solo followed.

The squadron was hampered by the order not to fire blasters. Solo, Winter and Leia felt no such compunction and shot half the squad down before they engaged in hand-to-hand. Between dodging (or not dodging) punches, Han noticed with a touch of pride that the princess had one man down by herself and was successfully holding her own. Winter was also a wonder, fighting like a krayt dragon.

For a brief moment he thought perhaps they were going to break through, until Winter dropped like a rock before a ring of blue energy. Leia dropped next, and Han found himself intimately close with three stormtroopers and Mara Jade holding a blaster on stun. "You must really get on my nerves, Solo," she said. "I should have stunned you the moment this started, and I didn't even think about it."

"What can I say, I have that effect on women," he said.

She snap kicked him in the jaw then stunned him while he was stumbling back from the kick, so he hit the ground twice as hard. "Bind them," she said. "Then we wait. Lord Vader should be returning soon."


	10. The Battle of Yavin

**Chapter Ten: The Battle of Yavin**

Kale screamed in agony.

Green energy poured into his body from the six heavy e-web emplacements. He curled up into a fetal position within the bubble of null gravity and screamed again as the blaster bolts struck his body again and again.

Beside Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin himself joined the spectacle. "Quite remarkable," the moff said. "Do we know what this creature is?"

"I believe the Emperor knows," Vader said. "His ability to survive the barrage is impressive."

"I received a communication from the Emperor's Hand. She says she caught two rebels attempting to free the princess from your quarters."

Vader nodded. "As I suspected."

"One is a pilot I personally awarded the Imperial Medal of Honor to, believing him dead."

Vader took a moment to look at Tarkin's outraged expression. "Indeed. The rebels are of no use to either my master or myself. I leave it to you to find a suitable punishment for the traitor."

"I'm sure I will," Tarkin said. "Tell me, Lord Vader. What will you do if this creature does not die here?"

"He will die," Vader promised.

"Very well, then. I will return to the command deck to oversee the final destruction of the rebel base. Let me know if you need any assistance."

"Thank you, Moff Tarkin," Vader said, his voice barely audible over Kale's screams. "I will indeed."

Tarkin nodded and walked to the nearest turbolift. Using his command override, the lift took him directly to the command deck in the northern hemisphere of the station, traveling through a vacuum tube at a thousand klicks an hour. It took nearly five minutes to arrive. When the door opened, though, it did so directly on the command deck. Admiral Motti smiled in greeting. "Moff Tarkin, we will be in range in twenty minutes!"

"Excellent, Admiral," Tarkin said.

"We have detected approximately 30 star fighters en route from the rebel base," Motti said.

Tarkin turned and stared. "Thirty ships? That's all the vaunted _Rebel Alliance_ could throw at us? Do we even need bother sending fighters to meet them?"

Motti cleared his throat. "It may be difficult to send them in any event, Grand Moff. That pet of Vader's managed to destroy over 3,000 fighters. We have other fighters, but those were not in active rotation and more than a few are not even assembled. I'm not sure we could assemble a single squadron."

Tarkin frowned and rested a finger on his thin lips. "It is of no importance," he said at last. "They are gnats swarming a giant. We'll swat them away and destroy their base. If this station cannot withstand 30 small fighters for twenty minutes, we deserve our fates."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Kale stopped screaming. The pain washed over him so steadily now, there was nothing left for him to scream over. His skin glowed red, his clothes were burned to tatters, and still the guns fired.

Had he been able to open his eyes, he would have seen how Vader oversaw six more e-webs set up to replace the original six which were overheating. Now, with twelve heavy blasters, the guns could alternate to ensure continuous fire.

All the time, Vader stood watching with growing amazement. Around each e-web, a squad of stormtroopers and gray-uniformed soldiers stood watching, also stunned, as the Empire tried with everything it had to kill this one teen-aged boy.

In his mind, Kale retreated deep inside to a quiet place. It was a place of pure white, of delicate beauty that spoke to him in a way he couldn't believe. It felt like someplace he truly belonged. The hum of the blasters assaulting his body fell away to a muted buzz.

The whiteness took on shape, forming into a horizon of white, and a sky of increasing dark. The dark then turned red, and he suddenly found himself standing on a pillar of white crystal, looking up at the boiling surface of a red giant star. As he watched, the star collapsed in on itself, until finally it exploded into a nova. He stood watching as the shockwave of the nova approached him. Around him, the crystals began shattering and he heard people screaming. His people, he knew.

The shockwave struck and his planet burned.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Kale opened his mouth. Vader stood nearby expecting a scream. What he actually heard was a roar of overwhelming loss and rage. The boy, now almost aglow, pushed his arms and legs away from his body, opened his eyes, and unleashed a thick beam of energy directly from his eyes. The beam cut through the e-webs and troopers alike, moving with the boy's vision around all his tormentors.

Vader's saber easily deflected the beam, but no one else was so lucky. In the end, the glow left Kale's body and every man and machine around him, save Vader, was destroyed.

His eyes still glowing with a deadly red light, Kale pulled himself vertical within the bubble of null gravity, and then drifted through some unknown means of propulsion outside the field. Vader stepped back when he realized Kale continued to float even after entering normal gravity.

"You are indeed powerful," Vader said. "The Emperor has determined you cannot live."

Kale set his bare feet down on the floor. "Then kill me."

Vader attacked. His sword flashed, and just like on Naboo Kale deflected each blow with his arms. The blade singed his skin, but did not penetrate.

Suddenly, bodies and pieces of machinery lifted from the floor and slammed into Kale from all around, only to bounce off harmlessly. "I am beyond the Force," Kale said, growling angrily. "And I don't fear you anymore."

He brushed aside a quick strike of the lightsaber and struck Vader in the stomach. The Dark Lord of the Sith knelt to his knees, his respirator whining.

Kale struck his helmet. The Dark Lord of the Sith slammed against a far wall, his armored Sith helmet cracked.

Kale caught the wrist of Vader's sword hand and squeezed. The fingers spasmed as wiring was crushed beyond repair and the lightsaber fell to the floor. Kale caught the Dark Lord by the throat and lifted him high in the air.

"I'm going to kill you now, Darth Vader," Kale said. "For everything you did to me, I'm going to kill you."

"I cannot stop you," Vader acknowledged, gasping. "You deserve your vengeance."

Kale stared up at the Dark Lord of the Sith, and for the very first time realized he was fighting a man. A broken man, he saw, as the shattered wrist sparked. "What made _you_fall, Darth Vader?" Kale whispered. "What turned you into a monster?"

"Vengeance," Vader said. "I deserved my vengeance as well."

Suddenly the whole station shook violently, and alarm bells went off. "I should kill you, Darth Vader. But then I would be like you." He let the Dark Lord fall to the floor. "I won't kill you, Darth Vader. Not today."

"Then you are a foolish boy," Vader said.

"That's what Mara tells me," Kale said. Then, in a flash, Kale disappeared.

After a very brief stop in the quarters assigned to him for new clothes, Kale ran down several levels until he reached the doors of Darth Vader's chamber. A dozen stormtroopers stood at attention. Two seconds later, Kale alone was on his feet when he opened the door.

He found five troopers and Mara Jade inside, with Han, Leia and Winter on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs. Mara was the first to see him and stood. "By the Force, we just can't beat you, can we?" she asked.

The stormtroopers lifted their weapons, but Mara stepped in front of them. "Don't bother. You can't hurt him." She turned to Kale. "Did you kill Lord Vader?"

He walked up to her. "I'm not a murderer. And I'm not a boy anymore."

She had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes, but doing so, she saw something there she had not seen before. It was a confidence he didn't have last time she saw him. "I see that," she admitted. "You could kill me if you wanted to. If Lord Vader couldn't stop you, neither could I. But you're not going to, are you?" She put a hand on his cheek. "That isn't your way."

"Please untie them," Kale said.

Mara nodded to a nearby trooper who did as asked and untied the three prisoners. "We're going to destroy this station," Kale said. "We know how to do it. And if we can't do it with ships, I'll do it myself. You'd better leave."

She shook her head. "My master will kill me for failing. I might as well stay."

"I'd prefer not." He hit her on her head and she dropped like a rock. The troopers raised their guns and fired, then stared at the scorch marks on Kale's shirt. "That stung a little," he admitted. "Want me to take a turn now?"

The soldiers ran.

"Well, that was fun. Now let's get out of here," Han said.

Kale held out a hand. "Cousin."

Leia ignored the hand and instead wrapped Kale in a hug and kissed his cheek. "And what a cousin you are," she said. "I wish I could have known the Naberrie side of the family. But I'm so happy I at least have you."

Kale's eyes began to water a little. "Me too." He bent over and easily lifted Jade over his shoulder. "We'd better get out of here."

"Why are you saving her, Kale?" Winter asked. "She hurt you so much."

Kale shrugged. "I don't know." He could not tell them of that vision of Jade that _clicked_ into his mind at the fountain on Naboo. "I just want to, I guess."

"Good enough for me," Han said abruptly. "Now, I think we should be leaving!"

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"We've analyzed their attack pattern, sir, and there is a danger. Should I prepare your shuttle?"

"Evacuate?" Tarkin said in genuine disgust. "In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances!"

Tarkin returned his attention to the tactical display showing Yavin IV was less than two minutes away from targeting.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Darth Vader stumbled into the hangar where his TIE Advanced x1 waited. His respirator worked hard to keep him breathing despite the broken ribs delivered by the Naberrie boy's blow. His right hand hung at a useless angle from his arm, but Vader was nothing if not a skilled pilot, and knew he could fly one-handed.

Once he was settled, he piloted his fighter out of the bay and into open space. "Control, this is Lord Vader. Where are the rebel ships?"

The garbled response came back. "Proceed to the north control trench, Lord Vader. We are attempting to launch additional fighters as escort."

Vader said nothing as his fighter soared toward the enemy.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Since everyone there except Leia was clad in Imperial clothing, they moved through the panicked crowds in the halls with ease. The whole station rocked abruptly, and everyone there knew the Rebels were getting very close to achieving their ends.

They finally found an armored assault shuttle in a hangar Kale hadn't completely destroyed and climbed aboard. Han ran to the cockpit with Leia a step behind, while Kale and Winter put the still unconscious Mara on a bench.

"Kale, you have to realize she won't stop being an Imperial just because you saved her," Winter said gently. "I know you cared about her once, but she is the enemy."

Kale nodded. "I know."

Winter looked into the young man's face for the longest time. "You still love her."

Kale's cheeks reddened, but only a little. "Like everyone says, I'm just a foolish boy."

Winter took his hand. "Not so foolish, Kale. And you're not a boy any more. Even Mara saw that in the end."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"The Death Star is in firing range," Dodonna said. He looked at Yoda, who sat impassive.

"Always in motion is the future," Yoda said. "The end this may not be."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Yavin IV is in range," Admiral Motti noted exultantly.

"At last!" Tarkin declared. "Fire when ready."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

"Red Two, what are you doing?" Captain Vander shouted.

"The trench run isn't working, Red Leader," Red Two declared. "We need a direct line of attack if we're ever going to take this thing out!"

"Red Two, break off and return to formation!" Vander said.

"Court martial me after we blow this thing!" Wedge Antilles responded.

He pulled sharply out of the trench, toward the angry red of Yavin before leveling out. Bolts of turbolasers flashed around him, but he ignored them as his targeting computer located the exhaust port. He pushed his thrusters to maximum and did a hard burn across the surface of the Death Star, until he finally flipped his X-wing and dove straight at the surface.

His targeting computer locked on, and he fired two proton torpedoes. He waited five seconds before firing two more just to make sure. Realizing he was not going to have time to pull up, Wedge flipped the fighter again, hit reverse thrusters, and dove into the trench they were supposed to use as cover for the attack to begin with. As he began to pull up out of the trench, his sensors began to read massive energy spikes.

"You did it, you Corellian dog!" Vander shouted. "All ships retreat! She's going to blow. All ships retreat!"

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Vader's sensors warned him of the impending explosion. He reached out with his feelings and felt a familiar presence not in the station, but on a shuttle that was rocketing away. "Leia," he whispered. He turned his fighter and went after her.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Eighty kilometers inside the Death Star burned a hypermatter reactor many times more powerful than a star. The overwhelming heat energy of such a reactor was funneled into space through a specially designed tunnel that ran all the way to the surface of the station. Suddenly, the main heat exchanger that allowed this to happen exploded under four proton torpedoes just under the surface of the station.

The reactor, which during the current build-up to fire was producing 1.2 x 10 to the 37th power joules of energy, equivalent to the total energy output of a yellow star over a thousand years, suddenly had no means of dissipating the massive heat energy from the reaction. Cascades of superheated plasma began melting the surrounding superstructure. The reactor collapsed in on itself, unleashing its energy in an uncontrolled reaction everywhere at once.

The outer shell of the station did not just crack. It vaporized with the same speed as a planet struck by the beam. In one blink of an eye, the Death Star and the million souls on board ceased to exist.

In his fighter, Darth Vader knew he was still too close to the explosion. Desperately, he pulled up a pre-programmed navcomp destination and activated the hyperdrive on his advanced TIE just as the initial shock-wave of the explosion singed the rear of his elongated solar panels.

The heavily armored shuttle was able to escape the worst of the shockwave and continued toward Yavin IV.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

The awards ceremony was a hastily assembled affair, since everyone recognized the need to evacuate the exposed base. However, enough personnel were gathered to make for a very large audience when Colonel Han Solo, newly promoted Captain Wedge Antilles, Winter, and Kale Naberrie were each awarded the Alliance Medal of Honor for their individual roles in the destruction of the Death Star.

As Leia turned to fetch Han's medal, she heard him whispering quietly to himself: "Don't look down the dress. Don't look down the dress." She honestly didn't know whether to be offended that he would even consider such rude behavior, or flattered that he was trying as hard as he was not to be rude. And he was trying, she saw. When she bent over to place the medal over his head, he kept his eyes steadily on her face and even managed not to make a snide comment.

"You helped save my life, Colonel," Leia said softly. "I suppose I shouldn't be too offended by a peek."

He blushed, only then realizing he'd been muttering aloud. But then something strange happened. Rather than a roguish grin or a rascally smirk, he smiled like a true gentleman and said: "Your face is enough, my lady."

Leia felt her cheeks redden, but couldn't help smile a little. "You're learning, Colonel."

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Two hours after the ceremony, Mara woke up not in a cell, or even in a bed. She felt hard stone under her back and bright light on her face, and opened her eyes to not just a sun in the sky, but the massive red glow of Yavin.

She sat up and had to suppress a wave of dizziness as she realized she was at the very pinnacle of one of the Massassi temples. She gasped, pulled her legs under her, and looked around for the rebel ships. There were none. The temple rose solitarily from the forests of the moon. It looked nothing like the temples the rebels used for their base.

"Hello, Mara."

She turned her head and gasped. Kale was next to her, perhaps four meters away. He was floating unaided in the air, twenty meters or so above the next step of the massive pyramid. "Kale, how…"

"Something happened when Vader tried killing me," he said. "I had a vision of my real home, and a vision of just a little of what I could do. I'm not very good yet at flying, but then, it doesn't really matter if I fall."

She carefully pushed herself to her feet despite the single square meter that comprised her platform. "You should have let me die, Kale. I'm a danger to you, I have to be. My master commands it."

"And you do everything he says."

She closed her eyes. "You don't understand, Kale. His voice is in my head. I _have_ to do what he commands."

"Did he command you to make me fall in love with you?"

She studied his face. Though it looked the same as when she first saw him, the set of his jaw and the angle of his eyes were different, somehow. He was a boy no longer. "He assigned me to find Obi-Wan for Lord Vader. I selected the means to do that."

"Why did you choose me?"

She shrugged. "I researched and discovered a possible link between Obi-Wan and the Naberrie family. Something with Queen Amidala. You were adopted, but a part of her family. And…it doesn't matter why I chose you, Kale. I just did."

He nodded. "The Alliance is abandoning this base," he said. "By the time the Imperials arrive, we should be gone."

"You're going to leave me here." It was not a question, nor even an accusation. She could get down if she needed, and the alternative was still a distant but visible fireball in the sky.

"Your master can have you picked up when the Imperials arrive."

Mara nodded and noticed he had drifted closer.

"Please don't try and follow us," Kale finally said. "You can't hurt me now. Not like…not with guns."

She laughed. "You know the funniest thing about this whole affair, Kale? I really did enjoy going to your aunt's memorial with you. It was foolish, I know. I should know better than to behave like a nineteen-year-old girl. I've never been just a girl at any age." She sobered. "For one day, I felt like a real teenager on a real date." She sighed at the memory. "I can't apologize for doing my duty, Kale. But I hope you can believe me that I am sorry you had to be hurt in the process. You are extraordinary, and I just wish…" She stopped herself. "Good bye, Kale. I hope you find happiness."

He drifted even closer, and she saw with a start a single tear in his eye as he gently touched her cheek. "I did find it, but only for a day," he whispered.

Mara Jade, servant of the empire, Emperor's Hand and trained assassin, stared at this beautiful fifteen-year-old boy and leaned forward until she was able to wrap her arms around his broad chest. She put her lips to his, closed her eyes, and kissed him the way she had wanted to since she set eyes on him.

Finally, she broke off and stepped back. "The next time I see you, Kale, I will do as my emperor commands and attempt to kill you and your friends. You'll have no choice but to kill me. I'm sorry."

He nodded and wiped his eyes. "Then I hope I never see you again, Mara Jade. Because I don't want that to ever happen. I love you too much." He drifted away from her in the open air, lifted a hand, and suddenly zoomed into the sky faster than the most powerful swoop, leaving Mara alone atop the world.

There she stood for the longest time before she sat abruptly, put her face in her hands, and rocked back and forth in silence.

End Part I


	11. Part II: The Empire's Revenge: Crystals

**Part II: The Empire's Revenge**

_Three Years Later_

**Chapter Eleven: Crystals**

A dark figure strode through the ruins of the dark world on the very outer edge of the galaxy.

The planetoid the figure walked on was too small to be a planet in its own right. It was in fact nothing more than a large rock in the outer debris belt of the galaxy, a remnant of the galaxy's formation billions of years before. The dark figure wore a complete EVA suit, since there was no atmosphere to breathe. Even underneath the helmet and thick suit, however, there was no mistaking the figure for anything other than a woman.

The planetoid made a full rotation every three hours. As the woman carefully crested a rocky hill, the full stretch of the galaxy came into view, dominating the sky with the glowing brilliance of a million suns. It was among the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

She blinked and turned from the image to concentrate on her walk. At last, after an hour in her suit and 15 months of searching through records so ancient some were just faded images of faded copies, she discovered what she was looking for.

The ruins were ancient—according to the Emperor's records, even older than the Jedi. The structure appeared crystalline in nature, though the crystals had long since blackened under the onslaught of dust from the surrounding belt. She approached one of the diagonally-leaning spears and rubbed it with her thumb. Many centimeters of soot and debris came free at the touch. Underneath that, sparking under the light of her helmet, appeared to be a shining gleam of white crystal.

The entire ruin was composed of these diagonal spears of crystal.

She continued into the structure, careful to avoid falling. Because of its nickel-iron core, the planetoid still had a relatively strong gravitational pull. She did not want to risk a fall if there was no one within a hundred light years who could help her.

Once inside, she removed a thin rod from her utility pack and attached the head of a lamp to it. The lamp produced a significant brilliance that lit the interior of the whole structure. The ruin appeared huge, as large as the Emperor's main audience chamber. As the light shone out, the surrounding walls seemed to capture and absorb the light, giving the entire space an eerie white glow muted only by dust and soot.

She began the climb down the odd pedestals that formed an impromptu set of stairs until she stood on a platform composed of one giant pillar of crystal. In the center of this platform rested a mesh of thin spears of crystal shooting across each other at 90 degree angles, forming a space underneath. Unlike all the surrounding crystal, though, these spears of crystal were green in color.

The woman crossed the platform, grabbed one end of one of the crystals, and kicked at the base. Her insulated boot bounced away without even scratching the crystal. She pulled, kicked and hit, but could not break the shards. Finally, in frustration, she removed her blaster and fired.

The nearest crystal cracked under the blast and fell to the floor with a thud felt more through her boots than heard. She continued firing until she exposed the space underneath.

The space was a bier, and resting upon it was the ancient, mummified skeleton of what appeared to be a human man. The man wore a shirt of gold thread, still untouched by time, and a thick kilt lined with ancient symbols completely alien from any language the woman had ever seen despite her extensive research in languages.

Then she saw the symbol. In a way, it resembled a side-ways Aurebesh letter _enth_. Only the ends were connected to form a sideways 8 shape. It was, among many ancient civilizations, a symbol for infinity. It was also the sign of Pal-awa, reputed to be the most powerful single creature to ever live.

In her research, the woman had read many legends of Pal-awa. According to the Followers of Pal-awa, one of the early Force user movements that predated the Jedi, Pal-awa could fly through the air like a ship, was able to move mountains, and was invulnerable to anything known.

Until, on this very planetoid, a substance was discovered that could hurt and even kill the great Pal-awa. His enemies lured him here, disabled him with the green crystals, and buried him alive in open space, surrounding by his only weakness-thus ending the reign of the most powerful creature in the galaxy.

She pulled her hand-sensor from the utility pack and took a quick look at the green crystals. Even just with a minimal scan, she detected at least 23 elements never previously recorded in the galaxy. The scanner suggested the item was of extragalactic origin. "Just like you, Kale," she whispered to herself.

The woman gathered an armful of the green spears for study and duplication, turned and then began the long walk back to her ship. As soon as she reached it, she took one last look at the wide swathe of galaxy that had swung back into view again.

"I'm going to kill you, Kale Naberrie," Mara Jade said to the stars above. "I'm so sorry."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

The tauntaun was an odd creature, Kale thought to himself as he rode the beast across the frozen seas of Hoth.

Where it had exposed skin, the skin was scaly, and yet it was covered in thick white fur that had the same properties as fiber optics to transmit Hoth's dim sunlight directly onto the creature's dark, scaly skin underneath. They produced live young but not milk; in essence they were furry reptiles with warm blood and live young. It was something to think about as Kale went on his daily patrol around the perimeter of the Rebel base.

Kale Naberrie was eighteen years old. He turned eighteen right there on Hoth, and on that day put on the Rebel uniform for the first time. Prior to that, he served as helper, courier, and heavy lifter—lifting things like boxes, transport crates and occasionally a fighter ship in need of maintenance.

Now, two weeks after his birthday, he rode patrol along the perimeter of the base in the coldest place he had ever been. He could not have been happier. The cold did not bother him, and the white sun, though distant, still warmed him inside.

"Hey kid, you there?" Colonel Han Solo's voice said from the com badge on the back of Kale's glove.

"Here."

"How you holding up?"

"I love it."

"You're weird, kid. I'm freezing my bloodstripes off. There's not enough life on this rock to fill a space cruiser. I'm heading back."

Kale nodded and started to voice his agreement when he saw a streak of light flash down a few hills away. "Han, I just saw an asteroid I better check out. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Alright. See you back at the base."

Suddenly the tauntaun started howling in fright and jumping from foot to foot. "Whoa there, girl, what's the matter?" Kale asked.

Suddenly he heard a shocking roar and looked up in time for his face to meet a massively broad claw. The force of the impact sent Kale sprawling into the snow. He looked up as the wampa snapped the tauntaun's neck. The massive bipedal creature then crouched low as it turned its attention back to Kale and charged.

Kyle stood to meet the attack, braced his feet in the snow and ice as good as he could, and as the creature came into range, delivered a ringing uppercut punch.

The wampa flew backward twenty meters and landed with a loud thud and exhalation of breath in the snow. Kale walked past his mount, sorrowfully touching the dead creature's head as he moved, until he stood before the wampa. "Wanna try that again?" he asked.

The wampa did not move.

"Okay then."

Sometimes being super strong and nearly invincible was just fun.

Suddenly he heard an incredible loud, piercing shriek that brought him to his knees. It was a sound unlike anything he had heard before. Moments later he felt an intense heat from within his coats and heater vest. He pulled his winter coat open and suddenly jerked his head back against the bright green light shining from within his vest.

It was his crystal that Ben had given him three years before—the crystal from his ship.

He held it up, and again it seemed to shriek at him. In reflex, he threw the crystal to the north and threw it hard.

If the crystal had significant weight, it could have traveled under Kale's throw several hundred kilometers, possibly even into low orbit. However, wind alone was enough to slow its passage regardless of the power of the throw behind it. The crystal only traveled twenty kilometers before it hit the hard-packed snow and ice.

The crystal rested there for a moment, before the snow and ice beneath it began to melt and actually vaporize under an intense heat. In just seconds, the green crystal melted below the surface of the frozen ocean.

A gradual hum grew from the ground below, like one of the many earthquakes the tectonically active planet experienced. The icy surface began to crack and groan. Suddenly a spear of white crystal a centimeter wide at the tip and ten meters wide at the base thrust up from the snow and ice at a 90 degree angle. Nearby, an identical spear shot out of the ground at the same angle, but in exactly the opposite direction. Similar spears sprouted from the icy ocean of Hoth growing both in size and frequency.

Twenty kilometers away, Kale both heard the rumbling and saw the white flashes of light in the sky. The flashes were so bright the whole sky darkened before them. He did not know what was happening, but felt an overwhelming, instinctual need to see.

His feet lifted off the ground as he propelled himself into the air. He did not go high, though. Like his first and most beloved teacher, Ben Kenobi, Kale Naberrie did not like heights. He knew it was an irrational fear since heights could not really hurt him. His fear lay more in the lack of control he felt on the occasional times when he flew.

Still, he had to see what was happening. He "pushed" against the air behind him, and suddenly he was zipping through Hoth's thin, cold atmosphere toward the site of the crystal's landing. The ground flew by a few meters under him, forcing him to rise when it did over the many mountain ridges.

Finally, though, he reached the site of the crystal's landing.

Kale landed as normal, with a crash that sent him sprawling into the snow. He quickly picked himself up and stared in shock.

The single green crystal had somehow created a massive fortress, easily as large as the rebel's main hangar, or possibly even larger, all made of brilliant white crystals. It was the most beautiful thing Kale had ever seen, and he did not even bother to try and resist the pull of it. He walked toward it with a sense of both excitement and fear.

If asked later, he would never be able to recount the journey into the fortress. He could not remember what path he took or how. His memories of the fortress did not begin until he stood on a platform overlooking a massive open chamber of glowing white crystal, with what looked like a panel before him filled with different crystals all shaped like his first one, but of a clear white.

He took one of the crystals and slid it into a slot in the crystalline panel that appeared made for just that purpose.

A glow formed in the center of the open chamber. It expanded and grew and took on definition, until at last Kale found himself staring at a face at once familiar and alien.

The face seemed to look directly at him, and when the hologram's lips moved, the whole fortress seemed to thrum with his voice. "My son, you do not remember me. I am Jor-El. I am ... your father. By now you will have reached your eighteenth year of time as it is measured on Earth. By that same reckoning I will have been dead for many thousands of your years. The knowledge that I have, of matters physical and historic, I have given to you fully on your voyage to your new home. These are important matters, to be sure, but still matters of mere fact. There are questions to be asked and it is time for you to do so. Here in this Fortress of Solitude we shall try to find the answers together." The face paused and then said. "Speak."

Kale asked the question that had haunted him his entire life. "Who am I?"

The face smiled compassionately. "Your name is Kal-El. You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton. Even though you have been raised as a human being, you are not one of them. You have great powers, only some of which you have, as yet, discovered.

While it is forbidden for you to interfere with human history itself, your leadership can stir others to their own capacity for moral betterment. They can be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason

above all—their capacity for good—I have sent them you. My only son."

Kale—Kal-El—stood transfixed upon hearing the names and places of his past. Krypton. It was not a planet he had heard of. "You said I was on Earth. But I didn't come to anyplace called Earth. I landed on a planet called Tattooine and was raised on the planet Naboo."

The face lost its smile. "My son, this cannot be. I chose Earth because you would be safest there. The names you speak of are in a galaxy on the other side of the known universe from where I sent you. It is a galaxy of strife and discontent, constantly fighting among its own. Your mother Lara and I would never have chosen such a place for you."

"I'm here," Kale said. "I have always been here."

"And you have suffered," the hologram said, somehow sensing the shadow of loss within Kale. "I see that you have lost much and experienced much pain your mother and I would have saved you from. Oh my son, I grieve for you in spirit."

Kale bowed his head a moment. "I've lost the family that raised me," he admitted. "And the Sith want me dead."

The face of his father stared down at him with a firm line to his chin. "The Sith know what you are?"

"They know they can't kill me like normal people."

"And the Jedi?"

The fact that Jor-El even knew the word made Kale feel slightly better. "The Jedi are almost extinct. The last of the Jedi masters is actually here on Hoth training a new apprentice."

"Then bring this Jedi master before me."

"I will."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

When Colonel Han Solo found Princess Leia Organa in the mostly unused cafeteria, he expected her to be drinking caf and reading over flimsiplast procurement reports or tactical summaries. Instead, he walked in and found her dancing.

There was no other way he could describe the exercise she was performing. With the little green frog constantly jabbering to her about the Force, Leia spun, twirled and leapt about with all the grace and agility of the best Twi'lek dancers in the Imperial Ballet. She moved with her eyes closed and a glowing blue lightsaber in her hands, making intricate patterns of light that seemed to harbor a message Han simply wasn't smart enough to read.

Then it really got interesting. The table Yoda stood on began to rise gently into the air. Nearby, unused water barrels began to rise into the air. All around, objects lifted gently into the air.

"Good, good," Yoda continued to jabber. "Through the Force, things you will see. The past. The future. Let the Force flow through you, and guide your mind."

"Ahh!" Leia squawked and suddenly everything spilled, including Yoda's table. She opened her eyes and saw the Jedi master picking himself up with a wan expression. "Oh Master, I'm so sorry."

"Saw something, you did," he said.

She nodded. "I thought I saw Kale die," she whispered. "I saw a lightsaber through his chest."

"Unlikely this is," Yoda said. "If so, dead long ago he would be."

"Yes, Master." She nodded, and only then looked up to see Han.

He watched a strange play of emotion speed across her face. First a spark of happiness, then distrust followed quickly by haughty indifference. "Can I help you, Colonel?" she asked.

"I was just wondering if you'd seen the kid, that's all," he said as he sauntered in. "Say, those were some nifty moves you had going there. Was that a Jedi thing?"

"Jedi thing," Yoda said, cackling. "Yes. Jedi thing."

Outside they heard an exclamation and a huge crash. Han and Leia rushed out into the hall just in time to see Kale Naberrie apologizing profusely to the pilot of a Y-wing bomber even as he righted the tipped-over ship. "Sorry again," he said. "I was in a hurry."

"Yeah, I know, Kale," the pilot said with a forced smile. The crew of the base was, quite frankly, afraid of Kale. Although he had never given anyone of them reason to fear, those who were on Yavin IV remembered how he almost killed someone using an entire caf dispenser as a club.

Kale looked up, his cheeks red with embarrassment, just as he saw his targets. "Han, Leia, Master Yoda!"

"Yes." "Yes." "Yes."

All three answered, and Leia shot Han an irritated glare before stepping forward. "Kale, what's wrong? Why were you in such a hurry?"

"Something wonderful!" Kale said. "I saw my father. My real father!"

"Hmmm," Han said. "Let me guess. Princess here is Darth Vader's daughter, and you're the Emperor's, right?"

"Whah?" Kale looked so lost Han felt almost embarrassed for even trying. "No," Kale continued. "The crystal. The one Ben found in my ship. It…it…My father wanted to speak with you, Master Yoda. He said I was to bring you before him."

Yoda stood staring at Kale for the longest time. "Time it is, then," he said. "Go with you I will."

"We might as well all go," Han said. "I'd give anything to miss the briefing this evening."

"Is getting out of meetings the only thing you think of, Colonel Solo?"

Han appeared to think a moment, and then grinned. "Not the only thing, Your Highnessness."

"Children, enough," Yoda said with unusual finality. "To Kale's father we will go."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Darth Vader meditated within his own fortress of solitude: his hyperbaric chamber.

Divested of his helmet and surrounded by a medically necessary mix of oxygen, water, and a mild bronchial agent to assist his breathing, Vader sat with his eyes closed. In his mind, a harsh whisper said again and again: "_Is this how you killed my mother_?"

It was a question that had haunted him for the past three years, but it brought back memories that haunted him for a lifetime. Standing on the Death Star, with his daughter's fragile neck gripped in the vice of his cybernetic hand, Darth Vader found himself standing again on Mustafar, squeezing the life from his beloved Padmé through the Force. The look in her eyes seared his soul just as surely as the fires of Mustafar had seared his skin.

_You told me she died, Master._

_And so she did, Lord Vader. The Jedi must have clouded my vision…_ Darth Vader opened his eyes and realized with all the certainty of epiphany that his master had lied to him the fist time, and did so again the second, and that his fall to the Dark Side had been nothing more than another trick played upon him by the master trickster. Palpatine's power was not brute force, but manipulation and control. And he found in a gullible young Jedi the perfect hand to execute his will.

For a moment, the flecks of orange in Darth Vader's eyes faded slightly.

Suddenly a beeping alerted him to the presence of an officer. The computer automatically lowered his helmet and mask, and in a moment the chamber opened to reveal Mara Jade. Behind her lay Admiral Ozzel, very dead.

"This is not my Lifeday, Mara Jade," Darth Vader said as he stood. "I do not require any gifts."

Mara cocked her head, as if unsure it was a joke. "He was ignoring important information on the Rebel whereabouts."

"Oh?" He stepped out of his chambers and looked down at the dead officer. "As stupid as he was clumsy. I take it he still had hard feelings over the _Reprisal_ incident?"

She looked down and nudged the blaster in his hand. Vader did not bother to follow her gaze. "You should have been patient, Mara. He would have made a mistake sooner rather than later, and I would have removed him for you."

"This way the crew fears me too," she pointed out. "The Emperor has assigned me to assist you, and if they're afraid of me, they'll be that much more terrified of you."

"They already are." He swept past the corpse of his former subordinate and led the way to the bridge of the super star destroyer _Executor_. "You have information regarding the location of the Rebel Base?"

"Hoth System," she said with absolutely certainty. "One of our droids detected a generator there."

Vader nodded. "Very well, Mara Jade. Inform Captain Piett to take the fleet to Hoth, and advise the admiral of his new rank."

"Yes, M'lord," Mara said with a bow.

~~Legacy~~

~~Legacy~~

Han set the speeder down on the flat top of a massive crystal column on the side of the fortress. "And you're saying this just popped up over a few minutes?"

"Yeah, it's neat, isn't it?" Kale gushed.

Yoda allowed Kale to lift him from the speeder and carry him across the maze of pillars and crystals, until the four of them stood again on the platform. Kale took the same crystal as before and slid it into a waiting sheath. A moment later, a massive hologram of a face appeared.

"My son, you have returned," the face of Jor-El said.

"Yes, father. And I brought Master Yoda with me."

His gimer stick in hand, Yoda hobbled to the edge of the platform and regarded the face, which in turn tilted down in the air to return the gaze. "Of Pal-awa's people, you are," Yoda said.

"Yes," the hologram said. "Pal-awa was a son of Krypton, as is Kal-El."

"Only in my earliest youth many hundred of years ago, did I hear of Pal-awa," Yoda said. "A god, he was. But not a good one. Many did he kill. Unwelcome his kind is in this galaxy."

The expression on Jor-El's face was somber, his lips barely moving as he spoke. "It was never our intent for Kal-El to come to you. I have searched through the records of his flight crystal and found evidence of a black hole that redirected his vessel through space and time."

Yoda nodded. "It is as it is. Why ask to speak with me?"

"Because my son may not be alone in your galaxy. His ship followed a similar trajectory as a prison we constructed for three of our worst felons. It is possible that if his ship ended in your galaxy, so too might these felons. I warn you, Master Jedi, that these three would have all the same powers as my son, but with the blackest of souls."

"News of these I have not heard," Yoda said. "But warned we are, with gratitude." He rapped on Kale's knee with his stick. "And of young Kale, what are we to do?"

"He must be trained to harness his powers, both physical and spiritual," Jor-El said. "And once he has mastered his Kryptonian nature, then to your hands I deliver him. For even on Krypton, many galaxies away, we have heard of the Jedi. Perhaps if Pal-awa had been raised a Jedi, he would not have been unwelcome in your galaxy. Now, I ask that you leave, so that I may begin my son's training."

Han started to open his mouth, but stopped when Leia elbowed him. She graciously offered her shoulder for Yoda to ride, since in his age he found walking for long periods difficult. As they were leaving, they saw a bright beam of light shoot down from the pillars above to impale Kale in the chest, lifting him from the floor as more light formed a cylindrical wall around him. Leia thought she caught shapes and events reflected on the interior of the light, including men in red-tinted robes falling some incredible distance.

"So we came all this way for old dad to tell us about some bad cousins of Kale's?" Han said when they finally climbed back into the speeder.

"A grave warning it was," Yoda said. "Invincible, Kale nearly is, and generates strength enough to destroy planets. Imagine three others of his kind, with the souls like that of the Emperor."

"There's a thought," Han said. "Maybe they can take out the Emperor."

"A million times worse would such beings be," Yoda said. "Let us hope this prison of theirs remains unfound."

Leia shivered as a blast of snow pulled the open speeder doors wide. "We'd better head back. It's going to be night soon."

"And just leave the kid out here?"

"In no danger is Kale," Yoda said. "Safe he is in his father's hands."

"I guess no sparring for me tonight," Leia muttered. "He's the best sparring partner I could have had. If I slipped and hit him, it didn't hurt."

"You could always spar with me, Princess."

"You don't know how to use a lightsaber."

"Who said anything about lightsabers?"

Yoda sighed and sank lower in his seat. "Home we should go. Tired I am."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

That night, Leia found herself unable to sleep. She dressed in her thermal body suit, slacks and vest, and aimlessly wandered the halls. The night watch nodded to her as she passed by.

In the command center, the three techs on duty smiled as she stepped in briefly. She smiled back and eventually made her way out. Finally, her steps took her back to the cafeteria, where she thought she might get in a workout to tire herself out.

"Expecting you, I was," Yoda said from atop the nearest table.

Leia knew better than to be surprised. "Master," she said with a bow.

"Sit with me," he said. She sat on the table bench. With him on the top, they were of a similar height.

"Grave news you must know," he said, chuckling for some reason. "Grave news. Dying, I am. An excellent student you are, young Padawan, but drained me, these last years have. Leave Hoth, I will not."

Leia felt something inside of her go cold. For the past three years, Yoda had been more than a teacher. He had become the father figure she had lost. He had given comfort and advice when needed most. "Master, if you die, then how will the Jedi continue?"

"Through you," Yoda said. "Many Jedi have I trained, from birth most. In three years, you approach the skills of one trained for twenty. Proud I am of you, Leia Organa Skywalker. Though your heart is that of your mother, your father's power in the Force do you possess."

"I wonder what Luke would have been like?" she asked.

"Stronger, perhaps. A brilliant light in the Force was he. Mourned his loss, I did." Yoda sighed deeply, then reached out a small, three-fingered hand and gently touched Leia's cheek. "Confession I must make to you, Padawan. It was I who drove Anakin to the Dark Side."

Leia shook her head. "It was the Emperor who did that."

"Perhaps." He tapped his gimer stick unconsciously against his knee. "Tell you this, I must. For my own sake. Before the Purge, harsh in judgment was I. The rule of no attachments mine was. With your father, though, such rules were wrong. Love, he did. So strongly it blazed like his power. Those who he liked, loved did he. Moderation, he knew not. It was love. Or it was hate." The ancient Jedi sighed. "Came to me, he did. A dream of terrible loss he had, of losing your mother. Dreamed she died, did he, and the fear of this dream drove him." Yoda looked up and locked Leia in a gaze. "To me he came for guidance. Told him I did, 'Learn to let go that which you fear to lose.'"

"You told him to leave everything he loved," she whispered.

"To all young Jedi, did I say this," Yoda said. "But wrong it was, for Anakin. Blinded was I by my own pride, my own rules. The Dark Side I missed in his eyes that moment. Do anything for your mother, he would have. Lied to him, Palpatine did, but his lies worked only because failed I did."

"What do you think you should have done differently?"

"Accepted that Anakin needed love, above all else. That thin is the line between love and hate. And that your mother made him whole. Allayed his fear, I should have. With Jedi healers and he whole and loved by her side, live she would have."

Leia took the venerable old Jedi's tiny hand in hers. "Master, you have told me many times to look to the here and now. I am here, now. Though my brother is gone, you gave me a wonderful life with Bail as my father. If forgiveness you need, I give it to you freely. But do not feel sorry for what has happened. My father is what he is."

"A fine Jedi will you make," Yoda said. He lifted his stick and touched first each of her shoulders, then finally her forehead. "Leia Skywalker, by the Will of the Force, you are a knight. And a good knight you will be."


	12. Part II: The Battle of Hoth

**Chapter Twelve: The Battle of Hoth**

"Princess," General Rieekan said as he opened her door.

He found Leia sitting at her desk, her head resting on folded arms where she fell asleep. He smiled to himself before stepping across the room to gently nudged her shoulder. "Leia?"

Her head popped up. "Yoda!" she said.

"It's Rieekan," the general said.

She blinked away her sleep. "General, yes. I'm sorry. Late night. What's happening?"

"We've got an unidentified signal coming from the Ice Sea. Colonel Solo has gone out with a squad to investigate it, but C-3PO is fairly certain it's not friendly."

Leia stood, fighting off the bout of dizziness and the crick in her neck. Almost without conscious thought she employed a Force technique Yoda taught her to ease her muscles and followed the general to the command center.

By the time they arrived, Solo had already destroyed the source of the transmissions. "It must have had a self-destruct," he was saying. "I didn't hit it that hard. Trenk thinks it might have been an Imperial Probe Droid."

"Which means the Empire knows we're here," Rieekan said. "Begin the evacuation immediately. We need to be gone before the Empire arrives."

Leia closed her eyes as she felt something in the Force. A premonition; a presence. "It's too late," she whispered. "The droid must have been transmitting for a while. They're in the system."

Rieekan stared at her for the longest time, until his eyes traveled of their own accord to the lightsaber hanging at her waist. "It's been a long time since I've fought with a Jedi," he said with a wry smile. "Sometimes I forget their advantages." He leaned over the com officer. "Sound general alert. Raise shields and begin immediate evacuation."

Leia also leaned over the command console and pressed the signal button. "Colonel Solo, get your people back here immediately."

"We're already on our way. General, we spotted contrails. Ships are on their way down already."

"This is going to be tight," Rieekan noted.

"It always is, General."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Major Bren Derlin held the electro-binoculars to his eyes while around him in the snow trench the rest of the Rebel troops prepared. He looked across the wide frozen sea that bordered the ice-covered mountains in which the rebels made their base.

Major Derlin was not unfamiliar with Imperial engagements. He fought in the jungles of Yavin IV as the last remnants of the rebel base evacuated under Imperial onslaught. He fought at Gormen and Nentan. He was an experienced soldier who knew the risks and what had to be done.

So when he saw the wall of death stomping across the icy sea in the far distance, he did not panic; he did not scream. He calmly lifted the com to his lips and reported: "Walkers sighted approaching the North Ridge. I count…" He paused and took a breath. "I count thirty walkers strong."

In the command center, he heard Toryn Farr's voice sputter with shock. "Thirty? That's enough to flatten a whole planet, not just one base."

Beside him, Lieutenant Mackovin shook his head. "By the stars," he whispered. "Can we hold them, Major?"

"Not a chance," Derlin said with a manic grin. "But we're going to try anyway, because that's our duty." He raised his voice. "All gunners take position. Be on the look out for snow troopers, and do not panic! We will get through this."

Suddenly fighters soared overhead. They were a liberal mix of both snow speeders and, of all things, Y-wing fighter/bombers. "Y-wings?" Mackovin asked.

Then they understood as the lead bomber opened its bays and let go one of its payload. The bomb struck in the center of the walker's back, exploding with such force the sky darkened for a second. When the smoke cleared, the walker continued, but slower than the rest.

"Must be Solo," Derlin muttered. "Only he would think of using bombers on moving targets."

Then Derlin heard a rumble and turned to see a transport ship rocket into the sky. As it was just out of sight, three blasts of ionized energy shot up after it. "That should give the Imps a nasty surprise," he said with a grin. "They didn't know we had ion cannons."

Suddenly there was a loud explosion and a flash of light and snow. When the snowy powder settled, Derlin picked himself up with a shake and looked down at the mass of red snow and shattered fabric that used to be Mackovin. He ground his teeth, picked up his rifle, and started fighting in earnest. The time for watching was over.

In his Y-wing, Solo flew as well as directed his squadron. "Hobbie, Jansen, your squad can forget about your blasters. Have your squadron concentrate on the legs. Use your harpoon guns and try to take out the legs with tow cables."

"Got it, Colonel," he heard Hobbie say.

"Wedge, you with me?"

"Yes, sir!"

"I'm painting a walker with my targeting computer. You got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's take her down. Bloodstripes, I want each bomber and wingman to paint the same target and let your ordinance fly at the same time. Synch it on your release computers. Aim for the heads if you can and do not scrimp on the bombs. Release no less than two each pass! Wedge, let's show them what I mean."

The two Y-wings split apart in their trajectory, but remained in flight toward the lead walker. Faster, more aerodynamic speeders zipped around them, but the All Terrain Armored Transports ignored the smaller craft as insignificant and concentrated on the bombers.

"We're taking a lot of fire!" Wedge pointed out.

"These babies can take a lickin'," Solo snapped back. "Target painted."

"Matched!"

"Targeting computer on, release….now! Away! Away! Away!"

Three glowing orbs dropped from Solo's Y-wing. A split second later, Wedge's Y-wing occupied the same exact spot and released three more bombs.

The six bombs fell within three seconds of each other, impacting the head, neck and main body of the AT-AT. It was a testament to Imperial engineering that the beastly machine withstood the first four bombs. But the fifth cracked the armored casing between the head and neck, and the sixth bomb ripped the head away from the body completely.

The head exploded as it fell, and the body of the 22 meter high monstrosity toppled over into the snow. The severed neck caused a feedback loop into the main body of the walker, and mere seconds after it fell, the armored vehicle exploded with a spectacular plume.

In the command center, Leia was the first to see the new targets enter the arena. "Han!" she shouted. "TIE fighters are approaching."

"_How many?"_ came his crackling reply.

"Lots."

"_Great."_

Han turned in his cockpit and saw the swarms of TIEs, a hundred at least. "Yup, she's right," he muttered. "That's a lot." He looked down at the AT-ATs rolling inevitably over the snow. They moved much faster than they looked like they should. "We're not going to hold," he said to command. "The lead elements are already approaching our line. Speed up the evacuation and get out of the command center. We'll do our best."

Suddenly his ship buckled under fire from above. He swung the unwieldy bomber about and started firing his laser cannons. Even as he pulled around, though, he flipped his torpedo tubes on and loosed his entire payload of 8 proton torpedoes at another of the Imperial Walkers.

His laser cannons flashed through the crowded skies, killing three TIEs. The TIEs exploded at the same time as the eight proton torpedoes slammed into the cockpit head of an AT-AT. The second head exploded even more spectacularly than the first, driving debris back into the main body through the neck joint. The last two missiles actually impacted all the way into the armored torso of the craft. The AT-AT shattered and then collapsed onto its own legs, billowing black smoke as it collapsed.

Beside him, he saw Wedge, Tycho and the rest of his squadron emulate his approach. Some were successful, some were not. Those that were not died as their Y-wings succumbed to the heavy fire and went down.

Below, he saw another Imperial Walker fall forward as if tripping, while a speeder flashed away. "Nice shot, Jansen!" he heard Hobbie declare.

Without warning, his world turned upside down as a splitting noise numbed his ears. He desperately looked over his shoulder and saw that one of his Koensayr R200 ion jet engines was gone. He slapped on his repulsor coils to try and stabilize his flight path, but it was too late. He was going down.

"Bloodstripes, I'm going down. Concentrate on removing air cover and then make your way to the rendezvous," he managed to say. "Good luck!"

Then his ship hit the snow.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Leia straightened in the command center, her lips parted, her eyes far away. She felt Rieekan's hand on her shoulder. "He…can't…." she started to say. She looked up into Rieekan's face, then back down at Toryn and the communication board.

Suddenly, for no reason either could identify, she smiled. "He's alive," she whispered. "I can feel him."

As if in confirmation of a miracle, Colonel Solo's voice erupted from the background chatter. "Aw kriff, I hate crashing!" the colonel screamed. "I'm in the middle of the play ground and I've got about a thousand infantry heading my way. Command, whatever you're going to do, you had better do it fast. This battle is about over! I've…son of a gundark, what was that?"

Leia leaned forward almost as if she could reach out and touch him. "Han, what is it?"

"Something just ripped through the side of an AT-AT like a superlaser. And now…hold on, a TIE just stopped mid-flight and crashed into another walker. It looks like…" he stopped for a second, then in a low, amazed voice, said, "General?"

"I'm here, Solo," Rieekan said.

"Did you know Kale Naberrie could fly?"

Rieekan and Leia exchanged a long look. Leia had often wondered about Kale's long absences, but the young man had never actually demonstrated this ability in front of them. Not even when he was practicing sparring with Leia under Yoda's tutelage did he show any such power.

"Oops, gotta go!" Solo said.

"Han!" Leia called. "Han!"

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Han heard the mechanical whine first and looked up to see a huge foot coming down. He hit the eject button on the cockpit-section of his Y-Wing and felt himself pushed back as the cockpit shot forward just as the foot crushed the rest of his craft.

Although the cockpit could not travel in snow, the few extra meters gave him the time he needed to pop the cockpit and jump out of the way. At least, that's what the idea was. The problem was the latch of his safety straps bent under the pressure of his landing and he couldn't get them open.

"Aw kriff," he muttered again and again as he jimmied with the latch. Behind him, he heard more mechanical whining as the same foot that destroyed the back of his ship lifted up to finish the job.

"Damn," he muttered.

He felt the cockpit jerk slightly, but nothing else happened. The mechanical whine became a roar. He looked up through the window and saw the foot right above his head, but it appeared to be stuck on something.

Finally, Han pulled his blaster, squeezed it beside him so the barrel pointed outward at the latch, and simply blew it off. He climbed out and stared.

Kale Naberrie stood holding up the foot of the Walker. "Hey, Han," he said brightly.

He was not wearing his rebel uniform. Instead, his body was covered in some odd fabric made of some thick black weave. On the center of his chest was a massive five-sided diamond shape with a symbol that looked like the letter Nern from the Aurebesh alphabet, only turned sideways.

Suddenly Kale lifted off the ground without any mechanical aid, lifting the foot of the hapless Walker with him. The mechanical whining grew more intense as the entire 22 meter-high armored transport reared its front legs off the ground. Kale kept rising into the air until the entire AT-AT flipped onto its back. As it fell, he remained in the air, scanning for other targets of opportunity.

Han saw the TIE first. "Kid, twelve o'clock high!"

Unfortunately, Kale was not a pilot and looked down at Han with a mystified expression just as the TIE fired. Two laser cannon blasts struck him in the back and sent him flying into the snow. Han rushed to his side as smoke rose up from his back. The strange suit he wore was not damaged. "Nice armor," he muttered.

"It's bonded to me molecularly," Kale said as he climbed back to his feet. "A gift from my father."

"And that?"

"Our family crest."

"Nice. All you need is acape."

A TIE came in for a strafing run. Han squatted to run for cover, but Kale stood his ground and stared at the approaching craft. Suddenly his eyes took on a fiendish red glow and Han stared in shock as two red lasers emerged from the young man's eyes. The lasers pierced the transparisteel canopy of the TIE and brought the ship down instantly.

"That's new."

"I've been training a long time," Kale said.

"Kid, you've been gone a day."

Kale blinked. "A day? But it's been…" he paused. "A day. I guess time didn't mean much where I was. So how bad is it?"

Both men turned as the entire horizon turned black. A second later a massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

"Pretty bad," Han surmised. "I do believe that was our main power generator."

Kale nodded and looked about the battlefield. Just a few hundred meters away, a line of snowtroopers approached. The field was scattered with destroyed Y-wings, speeders and fallen AT-ATs. Bodies darkened the snow along the field as far ahead as Kale could see. "By the Force," he whispered. He looked to Han. "Leia!"

"Let's go, Kid," Han said.

So, Kale picked him up and soared in the sky. "I mean let's run!" Han yowled as they streaked toward the command center.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

The All-Terrain Scout Transport lumbered across the snow toward the command center, ten more identical vehicles behind it. Along the ground came a full battalion of the dreaded 501st, Vader's personal command. Beside him, Mara Jade rode in silence.

"I don't feel him," she said at last.

"Unless he touches the Force, you will not feel him," Vader said in his mechanical bass. "There are others here, though. I feel a presence I have not felt since I was young."

"You killed Kenobi."

"This is not Kenobi I feel. Whoever it is, they have been training my daughter. She is strong in the Force."

"We'll see," Mara Jade said.

Vader turned his dark mask to her. "Do what you must to capture her, Mara Jade. But if you harm her, you will beg me for death before I am done."

She met his stare squarely, squashing any fear deep inside. "I know my duty, Lord Vader—it is to serve _our_ Master's will. Make sure you know yours."

Vader said nothing, but continued to stare at her for the longest time. Finally, the AT-ST came to a stop and the exit ladder slid down. Vader did not even bother—he dropped the five meters to the snow and landed with barely a flex to his knees. His soldiers were already assembled.

"We've met light resistance," the commander of the squad said. "It appears they have mostly evacuated."

"Not the command center," Vader said. "Not yet. Let us go."

Mara climbed down and followed after, shivering under the numbing cold of Hoth.

He led the way with Mara and his men behind him. Rebel soldiers fired on them, only to have the bolts batted down by Vader's red saber. Those that got too close found their throats crushed by invisible hands, or tossed about like toys under Vader's force-enhanced cybernetics. None could withstand them.

They came to an ice wall, and beyond it he sensed the blazing Force signature of his daughter. "Blast this wall," he ordered.

His men quickly knelt and applied the explosive. Vader did not move as the shaped charges blasted through the wall into the command center. He was the first to step through, and paused when he saw her.

The blast had knocked Leia off her feet, beside one of the Rebel generals and a younger female officer. They were the only three left in the otherwise abandoned center. Leia looked up and saw him with a look of intense dread and hatred, and instantly shot to her feet. She lit her blue lightsaber even as the general and younger woman scrambled to their feet.

On either side, snowtroopers leaned down and fired at the rebels. Leia quickly and efficiently caught the blaster bolts on her sword, deflecting them effortlessly back to the soldiers. The first troopers to fire fell dead under their own weapons. The others hesitated as Vader stepped forward.

"The Emperor was right," Vader said. "You have grown powerful."

"Powerful enough to fight you," Leia said.

"We shall see, my Daughter."

Leia's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"I feel your hatred," Vader said. "If you wish to defeat me, you must harness that rage. Let it give you strength."

"Like it did you?" Leia snapped with contempt. "You can't even breathe without a machine. You call that strength?"

A black mechanical hand shot out, and three meters away Leia felt invisible fingers grabbing her neck. She summoned the Force as Yoda taught and pushed back.

Vader stumbled a step backward. "Impressive," he said. "Most impressive."

A sudden push of wind directed all eyes to the entrance of the center, where Kale Naberrie stood with Colonel Solo a step behind. "I see you fixed your mask again," Kale said.

Solo rushed to Rieekan and Toryn. "You two get out," he whispered. "Transports are holding off for you."

"What about you?"

"The _Tantive IV_ is in the docking bay," he said. "Just go."

Rieekan nodded and led Toryn out of the room.

In the meantime, Vader stepped further into the room to give his soldiers space to spread out. Mara stepped out from behind him, her face a mask.

Mara studied Kale closely, noting immediately how the boy's baby fat had melted away into a man of striking beauty and terrifying strength. He stood there in his odd black body suit without any hint of fear as he faced the second most powerful man in the galaxy.

Beside her, the hum of Darth Vader's lightsaber died and he hooked it onto his belt. A moment later, he removed a second saber that he kept deactivated.

"You are powerful, young Kale, but do not think you can destroy the Sith so easily. You will die this day."

"We'll see," Kale said confidently.

What happened next was as shocking as it was unbelievable. Kale blurred into motion as Leia and Han and even Mara had seen him do many times before. Although not as fast, with the Force as his strength Vader activated his new lightsaber.

Kale moved forward, seemingly willing to take a mild burn on his stomach in order to destroy the dark lord.

The blade that emerged was not red. It was a strangely scintillating shade of green unlike anything Kale had seen before. The moment the tip of the blade touched Kale's skin, he knew that this was different, that this blade held properties beyond that of any other lightsaber.

But not even he could stop himself in time.

Leia screamed and Han stared dumbstruck as a meter-long blade of green energy sheathed itself in Kale's stomach, slicing through the odd body suit, through his stomach, and out the other side of his back.

Kale stared down at the black gloved hand that had delivered his death, then over at Mara Jade, who stood a mere half-meter away. _I'm sorry_, her lips said. But as she promised years ago, her eyes were dry.


	13. Part II: Escape

**Chapter Thirteen: Escape**

"Never cross the Sith," Darth Vader growled. He pulled his blade out of Kale's body as the young man fell to his knees, gasping. The Dark Lord lifted the saber high. "The Sith shall always be triumphant!"

He swung down hard, but suddenly Kale was no longer there. He spun about, growling, as the wounded young man flew through the air into Leia's arms. The force of the impact knocked both from their feet, but Solo quickly helped Leia back to hers and started lifting the boy.

The princess stepped into the open room and lit her lightsaber. "So, _Daddy,_" she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, "you found a new toy to kill people with. I'm sure you're proud."

"Your hate will be a great boon to the Sith," Vader said. "Come with me now, and your friends shall live."

"Heard that before, I have," a new voice said.

Vader's mask sought out the source of the voice and locked onto a diminutive green alien walking slowly up to Leia's side, even as Han dragged Kale out of the room.

"Yoda," Vader hissed. "So you did survive."

"More than you," Yoda said grimly. "Stopped cutting too soon, Obi-Wan did."

Vader held up his new saber. "Who ever knew that Kryptonite could be used as a crystal for a lightsaber?" the Sith said. He noted Yoda's expression. "Yes, we know what Kale is. The Emperor's library is vast, with works dating back to the earliest days of the civilization. We know about Palawa, and how he was finally destroyed. The only thing that can harm a Kryptonian is a piece of their shattered world—or in Palawa's case a piece of their shattered moon that preceded the death of their world by thirty thousand years. Kale Naberrie is no longer a threat. And neither are you, old one."

"So old am I to your eyes?" Yoda asked. He raised a hand.

Vader flew back into the arms of his soldiers. Yoda looked up at Leia, his face resolute. "Go, you must. In you the future of the Jedi is. Remember what you have learned."

Leia could no more have stopped her tears than she could have stopped breathing. She did not hesitate, however, and with a quick nod darted out of the room after Han and Kale.

When she was gone, the ancient Jedi removed a small cylinder from under his tattered tunic. Vader quickly righted himself as he approached. "Fetch her," the Dark Lord ordered Jade.

Mara nodded, and with a last glance at the diminutive Jedi master, she sprinted down the hall with a squad of snow troopers behind her. Left alone, Sith Lord and Jedi Master stared at each other across the rebel command center.

"You cannot hope to win," Vader said.

"Neither can you," Yoda said. "Death is but a breath. Breathe, I will, and become more than I am. Watch you I have. Seen the horrors you did, I have. Be glad dead your mother is, Anakin Skywalker, for dead she would rather be, than a son like you to have."

Vader's mechanical hissing sped up, but he said nothing.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Leia felt Mara Jade running behind her, gaining ground despite the Force giving her speed. The snow troopers were long since left behind; only Mara was a threat.

Leia burst into the hangar where the _Tantive IV_ waited. The Corellian corvette took up a large portion of the hangar, but like the transports used by the Alliance, was still small enough to have atmospheric capabilities.

Ahead, she could see Han trying to get Kale up the ramp. Captain Antilles and Winter were both trying to help as well. Kale was a big man, though. "We've got company coming!" Leia yelled in warning.

Her danger-sense flared, and she knew the time for talk was over. She lit her lightsaber, launched to one side and parried a powerful thrust that would easily have impaled her back. "So much for protecting Daddy's girl," Leia said as Mara rolled out of her thrust and emerged on her feet, a green lightsaber in her hands. The saber was identical to Vader's in the odd tone of its color.

The past three years appeared to have changed Mara Jade as much as they had changed Leia. The lines of her face had become more defined, her jaw stronger. She wore her hair shorter now, but its hue was still as crimson as ever. Her eyes shone with almost the same color as her blade.

From Mara's perspective, Leia also had changed. The rounded cheeks flush with baby fat and newfound maturity were gone completely, exposing a woman of subtle beauty and intense will.

The two crossed sabers once, twice—exploratory exchanges. For Mara, the blows were designed to test her opponent. For Leia, they were designed to buy Han time. Time ran out as trooper after trooper rushed in. Mara, sensing the changing tide, smiled tightly. "Please don't make us hurt you," Mara said. "Daddy does want you alive."

Suddenly one of the ice walls of the hangar exploded inward. For a moment, Mara half expected to see Kale bursting through, but what she saw was her master, flying through the air to land on his back with a vocoder-enhanced "_Hmmmph_".

Leia took full advantage of the distraction. She Force-pushed Mara back into the line of encroaching troopers, turned and sprinted toward the _Tantive IV_. As she ran, she saw a tiny green figure stumble tiredly through the hole after Vader. Yoda moved slowly and leaned against the ice as if he could barely stand.

Sensing her gaze, their eyes met briefly. Yoda nodded to her, telling her with that one expression that she could not stop for him.

She nodded back and continued running. Han and Kale had disappeared into the ship and the ramp was already retracting. With a backward slash of her lightsaber to deflect a few shots from the troopers, she launched herself with the Force ten feet onto the ramp and pushed in just as the outer airlock closed.

On security screens, she watched as five e-web laser cannons dropped from the base of the ship. Automated targeting scanners locked onto the troopers and started firing fifty bolts a second.

Vader ignored the blazing trooper-shoot as he pushed himself back to his feet and approached Yoda. "I sense your weakness," he said. "That was all you had."

"Enough, it was," Yoda said as the _Tantive IV_'s massive, perfectly maintained engines roared to life. The icy walls at the back of the hangar began melting and vaporizing under the back blast. Steam began billowing out into the rest of the hangar.

"They will not leave this planet," Vader said. "Leia will be mine."

"Never yours, will she be," Yoda whispered. "Too much of her mother, does she have."

Vader crossed the space between them in a single jump and slashed down viciously. Yoda made no effort to defend himself. As the billows of steam poured over them, a tattered, empty tunic collapsed to the floor with a small, delicately crafted lightsaber hilt.

In the ship, Han continued to struggle with Kale. "That kid needs to cut back on the nerfsteaks," he muttered to himself as Leia ran into the infirmary. Throughout the ship, they heard pings of small arms fire and Han climbed back to his feet. Already droids were descending on Kale. "Antilles is good, but I better go see what's going on anyway." He started to leave, but stopped when he saw her face.

Despite never having done so in his life, Han very gently took her shoulders in his hands and looked down at her. "Leia, are you all right?"

She looked up, and despite never having done so in her life, let the tears flow in front of this man. "Master Yoda is dead. I felt him die."

Han looked back at Kale as the droids beeped and clang to each other as their needles bent and dermal injectors sprayed little droplets everywhere since they could not force the medication in.

Then he looked back down at this petite, incredible woman before him who was crying openly. Though she did not know it, Han had stayed just inside the door in case she needed help. He watched the way she moved, and what she could do.

It both amazed and frightened him. She was so beautiful, but the things she could do…

He wasn't even aware of when he kissed her, only that he realized after a moment their lips were together, their bodies were pressing against each other, and a beautiful warmth seeped through his whole body.

When they finally separated for air, though, she did not look comforted. Rather, she looked confused. "Han," she whispered.

"I've got to go," Han said. "We'll talk. I promise."

She simply stared up at him, her cheeks wet with tears. He tasted those tears on his lips as he turned and left the room. After he was gone, Leia very quickly leaned against a wall of the infirmary, slid down to the floor, and buried her face in her hands. She wept in absolutely silence as the droids puttered uselessly around Kale Naberrie's body.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"You'd better not put a scratch on her," Raymus Antilles said as he left the captain's chair.

Han grinned and took the center of three control seats for the corvette. With a few flips of switches Raymus had never actually used, a manual flight controller and pedals rose up from the floor. "When did they put that in?"

Han shrugged for his answer, and instead said: "So, Raymus, I know you got the retrofit—that's when they added in the manual controls for flight jockeys like me. When you came over full time for the rebels, did the Alliance hand you any more gifts since Yavin?"

"As a matter of fact, they did," Raymus said with a grin. He turned to the weapons control officer. "Bring up the torpedo batteries." To Solo, he said, "We converted the landing bay to a torpedo room."

"What type?"

"Planet busters," Antilles said. "Ten fifty-gigaton warheads, six hundred-kiloton warheads. And about twenty ten-kiloton warheads."

"Gigaton levels, huh? Interesting." If Raymus didn't know any better, he would say the Corellian actually looked faintly aroused.

Suddenly Winter was there. "Winter?" Raymus asked.

"Where?" Han said, spinning around. "Winter! You made it. How are you, sweetie?"

Winter shrugged off the insulting endearments and pointed out the canopy. "Han, do you not see those star destroyers?"

"Star destroyers?" Han said in a sudden panic, "Where?"

"Very funny. What are you doing?"

He looked up and grinned. "Trust me sweetheart."

The Corvette suddenly surged forward toward the five destroyers bearing down on their position. "Raymus," Han said, "prepare to launch a 10-kiloton nuke at each of the destroyers, and then let five of the big ones go, but don't launch the missiles. Arm the warheads for a ten second count and release them one at a time."

"That should get their attention," Raymus said. "That may bake us as well."

"I need to get out of the asteroid belt before I can jump to hyperspace," Han explained. "And I can't do that until I'm past that blockade. This is a blockade runner, let's prove it."

The five star destroyers began unleashing a storm of turbolaser fire at the _Tantive IV_. Han jigged the huge ship wildly, seemingly able to dodge much of the incoming fire by instinct and sheer, overwhelming skill. They came almost broadside with the first destroyer. "Start launching!" Han shouted.

Raymus punched in the controls, and from the lower stomach of the corvette, five missiles streaked out almost as fast as a turbolaser blast, each streaking toward one of the closely packed destroyers. A second later, five more missiles simply fell out of the ship, carried forward by momentum only.

The kiloton level warheads struck the armor of the destroyers with no discernable effect other than to blacken the outer armor and temporarily blind the ship's sensors.

Then the first of the gigaton level warheads exploded just a hundred meters to the starboard side of a destroyer. Instantly four other massive nukes went off. The nearest destroyer's hypermatter reactor shielding buckled under the massive blast, and instantly the war machine exploded in a spectacular plume. The next two nearest destroyers bucked like startled tauntauns, their sides burnt and bent inward under the combination of the nukes and their comrades' death. The two relatively unscathed destroyers, blinded by the massive electromagnetic pulse, both turned sharply in an effort to catch their quarry. Being completely blind and on either side of the formation, the two ships turned directly toward each other and collided in the middle of a hard sublight turn.

The momentum and mass of the two ships carried them into each other like daggers. Neither exploded, but they were definitely out of commission.

"Very nice," Winter said grudgingly.

Han smirked. "Ain't it, though? Captain, been a pleasure. Thanks for letting me play with your toys."

Raymus shook his head with a wistful smile. "It was a pleasure to watch you work, Colonel. Now we just need to out run those five squadrons of TIE fighters behind us and make it past the asteroid belt."

"You have more nukes left, Captain," Solo said. "And there's no better terrain for timed mines than an asteroid belt."

With that, he left Antilles for the infirmary. Winter tagged along. "So," he said, "how'd you get aboard?"

"I saw Rieekan and Toryn running and followed," she said. "Where's Leia?"

"With Kale."

"And where is he?"

"In the infirmary."

Winter blinked in confusion. "Why would he be there?"

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

The captain of the _Triumphant_ made one last gasp before falling dead to the floor. The other captain of the taskforce that should have captured the _Tantive IV_ stood at stiff attention, his eyes wide but focused on a faraway object. He was the junior captain of the taskforce whose ship was damaged by a missile, rather than ramming another ship.

"Do not fail me again, Captain Needa," Vader said.

"Yes, M'lord. Thank you, M'lord," Needa said, bowing as he turned and nearly ran out of Vader's audience chamber aboard the _Executor_.

The two storm troopers at the door rushed to remove the body. As the door slid shut behind them, Vader wanted to be left alone to ponder this failure. Unfortunately, his appointed chaperone had other ideas.

"So now what?" Mara said. "You stabbed Kale and killed a strange-speaking frog. Wonderful. But now Daddy's little girl appears to be a Jedi and her ship is long gone. Not to mention you lost an entire taskforce of Star Destroyers. Our master is not happy."

_Will this woman never leave me alone_? It was as if she were his punishment for all those many sins he committed. Still, he said nothing. The link she had with the Emperor was very real, and he had no doubt anything he said would be heard instantly by his master.

"Send scout ships along the last known trajectory of the _Tantive IV_," he ordered. "I will meditate on the next course of action."

"Yeah, you do that," Mara snarled with open contempt. She left the room, leaving the Dark Lord of the Sith seething in rage. He harnessed it and wrapped it deep inside for use later. In the meantime, he activated his holocom and issued a signal on a pre-arranged channel.

It took some time to come through, but finally the monitor's static cleared and a helmeted visage returned his stare. "What do you want?" the electronically enhanced voice said.

"I wish to offer a bounty of one million Imperial credits to whomever can lead me to the _Tantive IV_. I will be sending out registration and tactical information. I want the passengers alive, so no disintegrations."

"Am I the only hunter?"

"No. But you are the first. Use your head start wisely."

Boba Fett nodded and then cut the transmission. Vader sent out a similar call not to another bounty hunter, but to an information broker known to supply the hunters. The Dark Lord had no doubt the word would be out in a matter of hours across the whole galaxy. A million credit reward was astronomical and would bring out every bounty hunter in the galaxy.

With that done, Vader returned to his hyperbaric chamber. As he breathed in the pure oxygen and allowed the droids to service his suit, he saw again in his mind's eye the way Leia called Kale to her with the Force; the way she looked with her lightsaber.

She looked so much like Padmé did on Geonosis—she looked so much like her mother.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Kale Naberrie was dead.

Every process within his body that medical science associated with life had ceased. There were no brain waves, no discernable heart rate—there was nothing that any of the medical droids could detect that would indicate Kale Naberrie was alive.

And yet, he was aware.

He had no awareness of the _Tantive IV_ medical bay, or the people walking by him. He did not see or feel Leia or Winter, nor hear them as they touched his cheek and spoke to him.

What he saw instead was a shining white planet of crystal, and a massive, unstable red star rising over its horizon. Somehow, the light of the super red giant star made him feel heavy somehow, as if he felt for the first time the true density of his body.

"Your home this was, hmmm?" Yoda asked.

"Yes. My father and mother sent me away right before it exploded."

He could not see Yoda, but knew the Jedi Master was with him somehow. "Am I dead?"

"Hard to tell, that is," Yoda said. "In two, most living things are. There is the crude matter of our bodies, and the luminous beings of our souls. Different, you are. One, your soul and body are. Why it is you cannot be one with the Force. Already whole, you are."

"Does that mean when I die, I'll end?"

"Or not to die, hmmm?"

Kale stared across the stark, terrible beauty of his home and wondered why he looked the way he did. He knew that environments shaped species. Why would a crystalline planet give rise to human-like creatures? Why would pieces of his own home world hurt him so much?

"Important questions, these are," Yoda said from nowhere. "Answers, you will not find. Think, you should, about other things."

"Darth Vader," Kale whispered.

"The Emperor knows your secret, and how to harm you. Cuts you easily, does Vader's new weapon. To defend yourself, you must learn."

"I've been sparring with Leia," Kale said defensively.

"More than just sparring do you need," Yoda said. "To the Valley of the Jedi must you go."

"The what?"

"A place of great power in the Force," Yoda said. "Find Kyle Katarn, and lead you he will."

Suddenly the Kryptonian sky darkened. Kale turned and watched as the core of the Kryptonian Sun _("Roa," the ghost of his father had called it on Hoth_) collapsed. The outer shell of the star sped inward toward its core at 70,000 kilometers per second, nearly a quarter of the speed of light. To Kale's eyes, it was merely a flash as the shell that had been looming over the planet of his birth disappeared. Suddenly the collapse stopped, the inward-falling matter rebounded, and the star shed billions of tons of matter out into the system.

A wall of energy struck the planet, stripping away the thin atmosphere and shattering the crystals so fast it was like an insect impacting the canopy of a speeder at full speed.

Kale felt the energy pass through him, and it burned.

"Aagggghhhhh!"

Kale sat up screaming. Leia screamed because he screamed. Winter screamed and stumbled back into a medic droid, causing both to tumble to the ground.

When the screaming was over and Winter had regained her feet, the three of them stared at each other in silence a moment before Leia wrapped her arms around his thick neck. "Thank the Force," she whispered. A moment later, Winter hugged him as well.

"Wow, kid, you should get cut more often if it gets you that kind of attention," Colonel Solo said from the doorway.

Leia stared disdainfully at the colonel. "Kale deserves it. You, on the other hand…"

"Got us through the blockade, thank you very much," the colonel said with a cocky grin. He walked over and slapped Kale on his shoulder. "So, kid, how are you doing?"

Kale looked down at his stomach and removed the bacta patch the droids had placed on him. His skin was nearly whole, save for a small scar where the blade entered. The scar fascinated him—it was the first one he had ever had. "I'm okay," he said finally. "I…I had weird dreams. Master Yoda was talking to me." He noticed the way Leia looked down. "Master Yoda, where is he?"

"He's dead, Kale," Leia said.

Winter, who heard the whole story from Leia as they sat by Kale's side, took the young man's hand. "He was killed by Darth Vader while buying time for us to escape. He saved all our lives."

Kale looked back down at his scar. First his parents, then his sisters and Ben, and now finally Yoda. He looked back up at Leia and took her hand. "We're it, aren't we, Cousin?"

Leia took his hand in both hers and nodded, her eyes moist. "We're it."

"So who's Kyle Katarn?" Kale asked.

Leia blinked. "What?"

Kale blushed a little as he swung his legs over the edge of the med table. "Yoda told me to find Kyle Katarn. In my dream, I've never heard of him."

"He's a mercenary," Winter said, delving into her encyclopedic memory. "He's been tapped as a friendly and used on several missions. He was part of Operation Skyhook and single-handedly destroyed the Dark Trooper project." She shook her head. "I have no idea why Master Yoda would even know who he is, though."

"Kale," Leia asked, "did he say why you needed to find Katarn?"

"To take me someplace called the Valley of the Jedi."

Winter frowned as she searched her memory. "I've heard of it, but only in passing. I believe it was the site of a battle between the Jedi and Sith a thousand years ago or so. I still don't see the connection, though."

"Neither do I," Leia said. "But after three years of training with Master Yoda, I know better than to dismiss a Force vision. Especially one where someone gets a hold of a name they couldn't possibly have known."

She turned to Solo. "Colonel, how much time do we have before we're supposed to rendezvous with the fleet?"

"A day at the most," he said. "But Rieekan and Dodonna dote on you. Just ask for detached duty. Hell, it's your ship anyway, isn't it?"

Leia opened her mouth in retort at how ridiculous the suggestion was, but stopped when she realized how brilliant the suggestion was. She did not, of course, admit that aloud, but nonetheless she couldn't deny the intelligence of it. "Very well. I'll be right back."

When she was gone, Solo grinned at Kale and Winter. "She loves me."

Kale snorted. Winter merely shrugged, then leaned over to hug Kale one more time. "I'm very glad you're all right," she said. She kissed him squarely on the lips, then quickly left without looking Solo in the eye.

"She's cute," Han said.

"Yeah."

"You like her?"

"I do."

Han turned and studied his young friend. "But?"

Kale shrugged and blushed deeply. "It's just…I don't know. She's beautiful and sweet and…"

"And…?"

"She feels like a sister."

Han rolled his eyes. "Good stars, kid! What is it with you and this little-brother syndrome of yours? Every time you meet a gorgeous woman you take the little brother role and they dismiss you as a prospect when you should have every woman on the base hanging off you."

"I can't help it!" Kale said. "I'm younger than everyone else!"

"You're only four years younger than Leia or Winter," Han pointed out. "Four years is not that long a time." He looked out the door. "Look, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. But take it from a guy who's been around the block once or twice—you do not want to grow old alone. Trust me on that."

After Han left, Kale stood and began dressing. As he did so, he muttered to himself: "That's assuming I ever do grow old."


	14. Part II: The Golden Lightsaber

**Chapter Fourteen: The Golden Lightsaber**

"Kyle, wake up!"

Kyle Katarn, mercenary and former storm trooper in his Imperial Majesty's army, continued to snore loudly. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Jan Ors removed her cap and hit her partner in the chest. Kyle sat up and rubbed his face. "What'd'ya do that for?"

"Wake up and look at this!" Jan said. "I came out of hyperspace to check the com chatter on the black channels, and saw this."

Kyle leaned forward, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and read. "One million credits for the _Tantive IV_?" He leaned back. "That name sounds familiar."

"It's Princess Leia's personal ship, you laser brain," Jan said without heat. "Remember our last communication? She was at Hoth when the Empire attacked. The _Tantive IV_ made it out."

"We'd better tell someone, then," Kyle said.

Jan smiled sarcastically. "You think? Good thing you're not the brains of this operation."

"Yeah, well, you haven't done so well yourself, since I have to keep saving you."

"Just keeping you on your toes."

Jan sent a signal with their hypercom frequency toward the nearest known rebel beacon. It took less than half an hour for the signal to come in from Rebel Command. They were surprised by who answered, as well. Ordinarily their orders came either through Crix Madine or one of his subordinates. But in this case the face that appeared on their holocom was none other than Princess Leia herself.

"Kyle, Jan, thank the Force you contacted us," she started off immediately. "We've been looking for you."

"Funny about that," Kyle said. "We were looking for you. Did you know there's a bounty out on your ship worth a million imperial credits?"

The princess blinked and paled. "A million credits? You could buy two _Tantive IVs_ for that much."

"Yeah, you must be real popular," Kyle said.

Jan hit him with her cap again. "Princess, you said you were looking for us?"

"Yes. Is there some place we can meet?"

"How 'bout Tatooine?" Kyle said. "That's about as remote as you can get, and we won't have to worry about anyone bothering us there because there's no one there left alive."

"Fine. We'll be there in about five hours."

"We'll be there," Jan said.

The channel clicked off. Jan turned to Kyle and stared at him for the longest time. "What did you do now?" she finally demanded.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Almost seventeen years ago, Darth Vader walked upon the sands of Tatooine and found a grave for a four-year-old boy who had died in a speeder accident.

Less than an hour after reading the name inscribed on the marker for that grave, upon Darth Vader's personal orders, the Star Destroyer in orbit executed a Base Delta Zero on the planet. Part of Tarkin Doctrine, the BDZ was the literal glassing of an entire planet's surface. Although Tatooine never supported a large population, every sentient being that had the misfortune to walk its dunes that day died.

Seventeen years later, much of the black glass of the surface had worn down under the torrential winds that swept across the broken planet's surface. Where the slag broke, the wind picked up sand, until the sandstorms stretched so long they could be seen from space sweeping across the dead surface.

Largely because of the wind, the two ships agreed to land in a relatively sheltered depression of partially melted rock outcroppings near the north polar region. The air was thin and barely sufficient to breath, and the wind was bitterly, painfully cold.

Jan and Kyle sprinted from Jan's ship, the _Moldy Crow_, to the _Tantive IV_; Princess Leia was waiting for them as they entered. "Thank you both for coming on such short notice," she said by way of introduction.

"It was our pleasure," Jan said.

Leia led them through the halls of the corvette until they reached the stateroom. Inside the two mercenaries saw a rebel colonel with a scar on his chin and a rugged grin wrapped permanently on his lips, a strikingly attractive woman with a shock of white hair near Leia's age, and a young man with perfect features who hulked larger than anyone else in the room.

"Jan Ors, Kyle Katarn, may I introduce Colonel Han Solo, Agent Winter, and Ensign Kale Naberrie."

"Hello," Jan said. She elbowed Kyle.

"Uh, yeah, hi," he said.

"Please have a seat," Leia said.

Droids brought out drinks as everyone settled in. "Kyle, Jan, you may not realize this, but for the past few years I have been training as a Jedi Knight under the last Jedi Master. Kale here was training with me. That master was killed when Hoth fell. But after he died, he appeared to Kale in a Force vision and told him to find the Valley of the Jedi, and that you could help."

Leia noticed immediately how Kyle straightened in his seat. "I don't know anything about Jedi," he said a little too quickly.

"Yoda said to find Kyle Katarn," Kale said. "He said you could lead me to the Valley of the Jedi."

"Well, right now I'd be more worried about the bounty on your head than about some mystical valley," Kyle said. "Every bounty hunter in the galaxy is after you."

"He has a point, Princess," Han said. "The _Tantive IV_ is a marked ship."

Kale stood up. By nature of his height, when Kale stood up, everybody took notice. He slowly began pacing at the end of the room. "What's up, kid?" Han asked.

"Yoda didn't say we all had to go to the Valley," the young man said. "Just me."

"Kale, we are not splitting up!" Leia said.

"Actually, that's a good idea," Winter said suddenly. Leia looked at her lifetime friend with an expression between anger and despair. "I'm sorry, but Kale and Han are right. Kale doesn't need us on this mission, and we need to unload the _Tantive_. We've already put ourselves in danger just coming this far out into the rim. Right now, I'm not even sure we could rendezvous with the fleet if we tried."

"And for a million credits," Kyle added, "the bounty hunters would be willing to attack you even if you were with the fleet. That is one of the largest bounties we've ever heard of."

Leia sat back in her seat, looking defeated.

"Look, I know an independent operation that could take the _Tantive IV_ off our hands and give us a new ship," Han said. "The administrator is an old friend of mine. We go get a new ship, and Kale here can go off to Jedi fairyland with the mercs." He looked up at Jan and Kyle. "That's assuming you'd be willing to let us hire you out. Say ten thousand credits?"

"It's not a million, but it'll do," Jan said. "And Kale's welcome to come."

"Me too," Winter said, "if there's room."

Again Leia looked defeated, but Han merely shrugged. "I'm good either way. So we're decided—Kale and Winter with Kyle, and Leia and I go dump the _Tantive_."

As the two ships left the thin, fading atmosphere of the dead planet, a black speck rested against the surface of the largest moon of the planet, Ghomrassen. Within this speck was a man in Mandalorian armor, resting in a rotating seat platform. He looked out through the expansive shielding of his canopy at a computer-enhanced vision of the two ships.

One he recognized as belonging to a couple of rebel-friendly mercenaries. The other, though, was the ship he had followed in from the rebel rendezvous site that he had managed to ferret out of his contacts.

Boba Fett dismissed the mercenary ship as unimportant. The bounty was on the corvette. He locked in its jump coordinates, and as soon as the ship vanished, launched _Slave-1_ from the moon's surface to follow.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Jedi Master Qu Rahn ran through the city of Barons Hed on the moon Sulon; on his heels came a hoard of storm troopers and Grave Tuskens. More importantly, on the edge of the Jedi's senses, he felt dark Jedi hovering around him. It was a terrible mistake to come to this place.

Master Yoda had come to Rahn in a vision, urging him to Sulon. But now Rahn sincerely regretted heeding the venerable Jedi Master's wishes.

With a flying leap the Jedi flew over one of the wide canals that ran through the city and made his way toward a bridge. He swept his golden lightsaber behind him, swatting away blaster and bowcaster bolts. His only hope was to make it out of the city and to his ship.

He felt a surge of dark energy in the Force and skidded to a stop as a strange creature dropped to the ground in front of him. It was a Boltrunian, and as it stood and lit an orange saber, Rahn realized this could only be Maw, one of Governor Jerec's new pet Dark Jedi.

"You were once one of us," Rahn said. "It is never too late to return."

Maw ground his sharp teeth with a jarring _clicking_ sound. "You are nothing. Another dead Jedi."

He charged forward with a powerful swing.

Rahn rolled forward and swung back behind him. Maw caught the counter attack on his blade, spun around and attacked again. His style was aggressive and unrelenting. He attacked with overwhelming power because he knew no other kind. Rahn allowed himself to retreat before the onslaught, fully aware of the approaching troopers.

If he didn't find a way out of this soon, all would be lost.

He stood straight and deactivated his blade. Maw blinked. "Foolish Jedi," he snarled. He rushed forward, his saber swinging.

Rahn gathered the Force within him and focused his entire being on his approaching attacker. His perception of time sped up, giving the allusion of time itself slowing. He rolled under Maw's reckless attack and swung his hilt up. He activated his blade milliseconds before the energy made contact with the Boltrunian's waist. A second later he stopped, his blade off, as Maw tumbled in two pieces to the ground.

"Jediiiiiayaiiii!" Maw screamed in rage, by some trick of his reptilian physiology still alive despite being cut clean in half.

With a last look at the soldiers, Qu Rahn, the last Jedi Master, dove into the canal.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"It's not much," Kyle said darkly, "but it was home."

Beside him, Jan Ors put a hand on his shoulder and leaned against him as he looked at the Katarn farmstead.

Overhead, Sullust, the planet around which Sulon orbited, dominated the sky. Kyle did not see it, though. Instead, he looked at a long spike of wood protruding from the ground near the entrance of the farmstead. It was still darkened at the tip with his father's blood.

Kale and Winter stepped beside Kyle. "I know what happened here," Winter said softly. "You have my deepest sympathies."

Kyle nodded but said nothing. Instead, he turned to Kale. "So, we're here. I don't know what you expect; there's nothing here except my old droid, and I'm sure it's been deactivated."

"Let's go see," Jan suggested. "You've talked about Weegee enough, it might be worth the trip just for you to take it with us."

"Fine," Kyle said darkly.

The party of four walked through the large farmstead in absolute silence. Kyle looked through every room with a mask-like expression, obviously not trusting himself to say anything. Finally, though, they reached a caved-in room that appeared to have been a work room or study. In one corner, buried under planks of wood, they could see a strangely shaped utility droid.

Kyle knelt by the droid, pulled the debris off it, and began tinkering with it. A few minutes later, with startled beeps, the droid sprang to life and hovered a meter or so off the floor, its appendages whirring.

"Hello, old friend," Kyle said.

The droid beeped and whistled like an astromech droid, and oddly enough Kyle Katarn nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I'm alright," he said to the droid. "I know what happened."

The droid whistled and beeped some more, and suddenly projected a hologram of Kyle's father, Morgan Katarn.

On the far side of the room, Kale slowly backed out with Winter a step behind. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's a last message from his father," Kale said. "I would want some privacy if it were me, that's all."

Winter nodded. "How are you doing?"

"I'm tired; confused." He took her hand and smiled. "And thankful you came along."

"Someone has to keep you from breaking everything."

He looked back into the room where the flickering image of Kyle's father spoke to him from beyond the grave. Jan Ors stood beside the mercenary, her hand never leaving his shoulder. He felt a momentary pang of jealousy, which he instantly squashed.

"Kale?" Winter asked.

He looked down at her and saw the question in her eyes. Winter was a beautiful woman, and his first friend among the Alliance. She had been like an older sister to him for these past three years—making sure he got what he needed and had a place to fit in. He would be lost without her.

He also realized that she was not really that much older than he was. Four years was not that large of a span. And since putting on the uniform of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, she obviously viewed Kale as a man, not as the scared boy she found three years ago. And yet, when he looked at her, he saw a Pooja. He saw a Ryoo. He did not see a Mara.

Mara; her face clicked in his mind, pushing out all others. It was frustrating, even infuriating, that he thought only of her. Why her? She tried to kill him, and helped kill his family.

Of course, he knew why. It was who and what he was. Krptonians, his father explained on Hoth, mated for life, and they chose their mate through a type of visual recognition. In other words, they selected their mates literally through love at first site. For better or worse (usually worse), Mara was the only woman Kale could love.

He nodded and smiled at Winter in a vague way, and then looked back to Kyle. Winter continued studying his face for the longest time, before she looked down at the floor in silent understanding.

"You must be the one Master Yoda told me about?" a new voice said from behind them. Kale had not even heard him come in, so caught up was he in his own thoughts.

Kale spun around to face a dark-skinned man in odd tan robes and two lightsabers hanging from his belt. "I am Qu Rahn," the stranger said. "I am a Jedi Master, and I have been tasked with taking you to the Valley of the Jedi."

Kyle chose that moment to rejoin them and looked upon the Jedi without surprise. "My father told me about you," he said.

Qu Rahn nodded sadly. "Morgan was a very good friend. Though he chose to send you to Carida, he was a friend of the Rebel Alliance and before that, of the Jedi. He helped save my life during the Purges. I was saddened to hear of his death." The Jedi pointed at the cylinder in Kyle's hand.

"That was my saber. I gave it to Morgan to hold in trust for you. I believed then, and I still do, that you have the potential to be a great Jedi. It was for this reason that I built a new saber for myself."

"Why do you have two?" Kale asked.

Rahn pulled one of the sabers off his belt. The hilt was beautifully constructed, with gold strands running down each cardinal point from the emitter to the slightly elongated base. "Master Yoda himself gave this to me many years ago when he named me a master. But I have always felt it was not for me. When he came to me in a vision two days ago, I knew it to be true." He handed the hilt to Kale. "This is for you, my young friend."

Having spent three years enduring sparring practice with Leia, Kale was very familiar with light sabers. As he ignited the blade, however, he was surprised by the golden glow of the blade. It seemed to warm him, almost. The color was comforting.

"Thank you, Master Rahn," Kale whispered with awe in his voice.

"Now, we had better hurry," Rahn said. "Governor Jerec knows I'm here. He has just in the past few months recruited several dark Jedi to his cause. It would not be wise to linger. Katarn, will your ship hold us all?"

"The _Crow_ can seat 6 passengers," Kyle said. "It should do."

Kale heard a piercing sound and recognized it as the distant roar of speeders. "We have company coming," he said.

Kyle stared. "You sure, kid?"

"He's sure," Winter confirmed. "Let's go."

As they ran out of the farmstead, they saw three speeders fly over a distant hill, riding along the edge of the valley wall. Overhead, a flight of TIE fighters circled, waiting for the _Moldy Crow_ to attempt a take-off.

"Well that's not good!" Jan said.

The two speeders carried ten troopers apiece. The TIE's were in Kale's mind the greater threat. "Master Rahn, could you handle ten stormtroopers?" he asked.

"I believe so."

"Good." Kale jumped.

Ignoring the startled gasps from Kyle and Jan, he flew in a parabolic course directly toward the spot where, if his father's lessons on calculus and geometry were correct, one of the two speeders should be in five, four, three, two….

He landed in the middle of the speeder with the kinetic energy of a bomb. He drove the speeder into the ground and then immediately soared back into the air as the speeder and all aboard it crumbled into the ground with bone-crushing force.

He ignored the other speeder and instead flew straight up toward the flight of TIEs.

The TIE fighters were not equipped to sense individual life forms except under their targeting array. Their defensive sensor net was geared only toward detecting possible technological threats. So their pilots had no idea that Kale was approaching. For that matter, they had no idea that he even could.

When he sheared off a solar panel of one of the fighters with his arm, the other fighters instantly broke formation, looking for the new threat. Kale tailed the nearest one. Using his newly acquired lightsaber, he slashed another solar panel off, sending a second fighter to its death.

The pilots realized what was happening by this time and began targeting him directly. He took two laser cannon blasts directly in the back and began falling as the pain of the impacts jarred him. Laser cannons could not kill him in a single shot, but like lightsabers they could hurt, and with ship-level weapons, he did not want to test just how many shots he could take.

With a burst of speed beyond even the imaginations of the engineers at Seinar Fleet Systems, Kale flew directly at the canopy of an approaching TIE. He caught a brief glimpse of a dark-suited figure working desperately at the controls before Kale crashed right through the small ship. He was already gone by the time the ship exploded.

Only two fighters remained, and one of them broke off while the other came in, laser cannons blasting.

Kale came to a halt, floating weightlessly in the air while the ship approached. He moved only enough to evade the laser cannons, until the pilot realized he was not going to move and attempted pulling up at the last minute. Kale reared his right fist back, and as the ship attempted to fly over him, he shot up and punched the canopy in the exact center of the window.

The transparisteel canopy shattered as the spherical hull of the ship crushed in within itself. The two solar panels on either side ripped free and continued forward on momentum alone, until, without the controlling effect of the twin ion engines to power and guide them, they began spinning wildly in the moon's windy atmosphere and crashed back to the ground below.

When there was no further threat of air attack, Kale allowed himself to float back down to the ground. There, he found a stalled speeder, ten dead stormtroopers, and Qu Rahn hooking his lightsaber to his belt.

"What in the stars are you?" Kyle asked as Kale landed.

Kale shrugged. "Kryptonian. So, are we ready to go now?" He walked into the _Moldy Crow_, leaving the rest to stare at him.

"I'm Kryptonion," Kyle mocked. "Like that explains anything."

"Come on," Jan said. "We can talk after we're off this rock."


	15. Part II: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

**Chapter Fifteen: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang**

Princess Leia Amidala Organa Skywalker, Jedi Knight and deputy minister of the Alliance Diplomatic Corps, sat in the conference room of the _Tantive IV_ while nervously chewing a strand of her long, caf-colored hair.

Across the room Colonel Han Solo and Captain Raymus Antilles engaged in a battle of wits over sabacc.

Although officially below the station of a princess, on several occasions while growing up Leia and Winter had switched places in order for Leia to sneak out and associate with those of lower breeding. Many of those jaunts ended with a sabacc game.

The problem, of course, was that she wasn't any good at it. There was a predatory quality necessary in the game that she simply didn't have. So, while she knew the rules of every major style of play, and in fact could hold her own in an average game, she rarely actually won. She especially never won against the more accomplished players in the field.

Judging by Raymus's pained expression, she suspected that Han was one of those more accomplished players.

"Raymus, you have plenty of credits left," Han said.

The captain laid his cards down with a shake of his head. "And I would like to hold onto them for a little while longer, Colonel. That was the most painful game of sabacc I have ever played. Remind me to run the next time you mention Corellian's Gambit."

The captain stood, nodded in farewell and left the stateroom. Suddenly, Han and Leia were alone.

"Care for a game, Princess? You're a Jedi, right? So you can read minds. You should be able to win easy."

Leia dropped her strand of hair and walked over to the table where Han sat, looking down in silence at him for the longest time. He looked right back, never blinking. At last, she sat down.

"I can't read your mind," she said at last. "I should be able to, but I can't. You're a null spot in the Force. I sense you there; I can feel you in that sense. But I can't sense your mind, or your emotions."

Han grinned. "That's gotta irritate you."

"Colonel Solo, there are so many things about you that irritate me that my inability to read your mind is very, very low on the list."

Han chuckled as he absently shuffled his cards. "You're missing Kale?"

"Yes. And Winter."

Han nodded. "Think they have a chance together?"

Leia absent-mindedly began chewing her hair again. "I think Winter hoped so, but I don't think Kale sees her that way."

"He doesn't. Kid's blind."

"He's in love with someone else."

Han nodded and began dealing a hand. "Yeah, he still has it bad for the Red Menace, doesn't he? He's blind and stupid." Even as he said it, though, both knew he didn't mean it.

Leia picked up the cards she didn't ask to be dealt. He had somehow dealt her a pure Sabacc. She placed the cards on the table. Han smiled and nodded.

"You dealt that hand on purpose," she accused. "You cheated."

"Yep."

She sighed. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Cheat."

"Do you want to play for real? I don't generally cheat because it's more fun to beat someone fair and square. If you want to play, I'll deal out a real hand."

She chewed her hair viciously for a second. "I don't want to play with you, Colonel."

Slowly and deliberately, Han reached across the table and removed the hair from her hands. "I'm no expert, but I've been told that's not good for your hair." He did not let go of her hand.

She did not notice. "Why would you care about my hair?"

"Who said I did?"

Only then did she notice Han was still holding her hand. "Stop that," she said, while making no effort to escape his gentle hold.

"Stop what?"

"You're holding my hand."

"I'm trying to warm it up. You're cold."

"No I'm not."

"Then why are you shivering?"

"I'm not shivering, I'm…"

She could not say at what point their lips came together, or why they did not part immediately. All she knew was that when their lips merged, her heart sped up, and the gentle hold of his hand became a firm grip. His other hand was on her cheek, and for that one sparkling instant**,** everything was all right.

The next instant, everything was wrong. The lights flashed red, alarm klaxons blared, and the entire room turned side-ways for a few seconds before the inertial dampeners reactivated and the artificial gravity restored itself. Han and Leia were both thrown against the viewports, and in that split second she saw the lights of engines around their ship.

"We're under attack," Han said, before falling on the floor with a grunt as the inertial dampeners caught up. He picked himself up and pointed to one saucer-shaped craft. "That's a YT-1300 stock freighter—Corellian. The only reason anyone would be stupid enough to attack a corvette in that is if they were bounty hunters."

"They sure got our attention," Leia noted.

"Nah, that wasn't what hit us. It must been some type of jury-rigged interdiction field. Come on, let's get to the bridge and see what's happening."

As they left thesecond deck conference room and ran toward the cockpit, they heard a shattering explosion that rocked the whole ship and made the lights overhead dim. "That came from the first deck," Han said instinctively.

Leia closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. She almost reeled under what she felt. "Bounty hunters," she said. "Dozens and dozens of them. They've already boarded."

"Can you tell how many ships we're docked with?"

"Three, I think. One at each docking ring, and I think another may have grappled to the top of the ship."

They heard a second explosion, and confirming Leia's fear, this one came from the stateroom suite on the first deck.

"Okay, this is not good," Han said, thinking furiously. He grabbed her arm and ran toward the nearest viewport.

"Hah!" he said suddenly. "Idiots."

"What?"

"We take one of their ships," he said with a devilish grin. "I've always kind of fancied the YT-1300 series. For a while I thought about leaving Imperial service and envisioned myself in either a 1300 or 1950 model."

Suddenly the time for conversations was over. A Trandoshan bounty hunter sped into the hallway outside the stateroom with a modified Imperial repeater blaster. He began firing indiscriminately.

Leia ignited her lightsaber and fervently began deflecting the shower of blasts while Han pulled his DL-44 blaster—a gift from General Dodonna after the Battle of Yavin—and took careful aim.

His first shot hit the Trandoshan directly in the face. The bounty-hunter's head whipped back and he fell like a tree stump. Han took the momentary lapse to tap his com. "Antilles, you there?"

His com hissed a second before the captain responded. "Solo, the cockpit has been barricaded, but we're taking heavy fire. The ship has been disabled—we've lost all propulsion and we have multiple hull breaches."

Han looked up at Leia. "Raymus, I have an idea to get the princess out. Is there any way you can break out?"

Leia watched Han, eyes wide. A moment later, they heard Raymus Antilles say: "Solo, there's no hope for us. Save the Princess, any way you can. We're going to lose the ship no matter what."

"It's been an honor, my friend," Han said. "I'll let you know when and if we're clear."

"I understand. Is she there?"

"I'm here, Raymus."

"Lelila, it has been an honor and a privilege watching you become the woman you are. I was there when you were born, and have watched you the whole of your life. Not only were Bail and Breha both proud of you, but wherever she is, I know your birth mother is too. May the Force be with you."

"And you, my friend," Leia whispered, her eyes moist. She set her jaw as around the corner four more bounty hunters arrived.

"Starboard airlock, second deck," Han said as she deflected blaster fire and he took out the targets one at a time. "Through this wall, right?"

"Right," she said. They took cover behind a nook in the wall as Han continued to fire, keeping the enemy pinned down as Leia plunged her lightsaber into the wall and began cutting.

Suddenly a thermal detonator thudded on the floor and rolled to the far wall. "That's not good," Han muttered.

With a backward glance, Leia saw the threat, reached out with the Force, and flung it back at the bounty hunters. It exploded half-way there, taking at least one of the hunters with it.

"That was pretty nifty," Solo said. "Never believed much in hokey old religions, but you're making me into a believer!"

"We're through!" Leia said. She stepped through right into a blaster bolt.

Her danger sense flared too late. She attempted to deflect it, but it sliced through her defense and struck her right shoulder below the collar bone. She fell back into Han's arms just as the colonel stared at this new threat.

"Fett**,** you idiot!" he cried when he saw who it was. "Do you realize you just shot Darth Vader's daughter?"

Boba Fett stood frozen for a moment, processing exactly what it meant. The Dark Lord had been very specific about no disintegrations.

Leia chose that second to attack. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she switched her saber to her left hand and slashed the feared bounty hunter's blaster rifle in half, and put all the power of the Force into a kick to the man's armored head.

She felt her ankle snap, but also saw the man fly back against a wall and fall unconscious to the floor.

Then, of course, she fell as well. Once more into Solo's arms.

"Alright, your _Jedi-ness,_" Han said as he picked her up. "I think you've done enough damage for now. Let's get out of here."

Cradling her in his arms, he carried her through the narrow hall and through the docking ring of the old freighter. The ship smelled of decomposing food and alien sweat. Han put her down on a bench just inside the airlock and hit the switch. "Just in case they try to come back in," he said. Then he disappeared around a corridor.

Leia heard the whole ship shudder and the docking rings disengage. She closed her eyes and began sending healing energy to her throbbing ankle and shoulder. Suddenly Han was back. "Okay, hop on one leg with a bad shoulder, or let me carry you some more?"

She didn't know whether she should be impressed more by the fact that he was offering to carry her, or the fact that he was actually giving her a choice.

"I'm in no shape to walk," she admitted.

He lifted her again and carried her through the corridor to a cramped, filthy cockpit. Food stuffs were spilled everywhere. "Don't let the trash fool you," Han said as he gently placed her in the co-pilot's seat. "These folks took care of her where it counted." He punched a series of commands and took the ship away.

He tapped his com. "Raymus, the princess is away."

"I understand," said the Captain of the _Tantive IV_.

A few minutes later, as the freighter soared away, Raymus Antilles shared a long look with the ragged remnants of his crew while the barricaded door of the cockpit began sparking under the laser cutters of his intruders. Then he turned and flipped the weapons control switch. He activated one of the missile warheads still on the ship, and then with a sigh, a prayer to the Force and a push of a single red button, the _Tantive IV_ and one of the bounty hunter ships still docked with the corvette ceased to exist in a flash of super-heated white light.

He never knew of the second that wasn't there.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"Raymus was one of the last links I had to home," Leia said as their sensors flared under the flash of white. Her eyes were moist but no actual tears fell. "First my aunts and then father and mother, and then the city where I was born. And now this. All because Daddy wants to know his little girl better." She leaned her head back against the co-pilot's seat. "Damn him."

She closed her eyes a moment, but the moment seemed to fall into a much longer time.

When she opened them again, she was in a small, cramped cabin. She felt the cool, soothing touch of a bacta patch on her shoulder and the restriction of a steriplast wrap around her ankle. Beside her, she sensed Han Solo. She could not read his thoughts or feel his emotions, but his physical presence was unmistakable.

"Shouldn't you be in the cockpit?"

He roused himself from a light nap and smiled. "Nah, I'm right where I need to be."

"Where are we?"

"A few light years from the Anoat System," he said. "I've set us down in an asteroid belt to go over supplies and…" He cleared his throat. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"How long was I out?"

"A couple of days."

With his help, she sat up in the bunk. "I must have slipped into a healing trance," she said. She wiggled her exposed toes. "My ankle feels a lot better."

"It was a clean break," he said. "I wrapped you up and made sure there was plenty of bacta. Evidently the bounty hunter business is dangerous, since they had a very well stocked med bay."

She looked down at her shoulder. Her shirt had been removed completely to allow access to the wound. She realized with a start that the coarse blanket over her chest was the only thing protecting her modesty.

"Sorry about that," Han muttered, suddenly blushing. "I couldn't find the clothes cutter and you were starting to bleed out so I got kind of…carried away."

"Did you enjoy the view?" she said, a little heated.

He flushed even more brightly. "Look, sister, I wasn't about to let you bleed out, okay?" He stood. "Well, you're okay now, so I'd better go check on the ship."

"Yes, you should," Leia said. When he left, she reached up and felt the dressing. It was expertly applied, with just enough pressure to be firm without being constrictive. When she removed the patch, she saw the blaster wound had already closed and scarred over. It still hurt, but the danger was past. She scrounged around until she found a shirt that wasn't too ridiculously huge. Limping with the steriplast around her ankle, she made it to the fresher.

By the time she made it to the cockpit, the ship was moving again. "Feeling better?" Han asked without looking back.

"Yes." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for saving my life," she said as she sat down.

He looked back, all anger gone. "You're welcome," he said.

"So, why the Anoat system?"

"Well, originally I was going to hit up an old friend at Bespin for a new ship. Now that we have a new ship, though, all I need are some repairs."

"Repairs?"

"The hyperdrive has been sabotaged," he said. "Probably Boba Fett's work to keep the other hunters from winning. That wasn't a coordinated attack, that was three separate outfits going for the same prize."

"You know him?"

"From before my academy days," he said. "Fett's the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy. He's taken down Jedi before." He turned and gave her an appraising eye. "That was some fight you put up back there."

This time, it was Leia's turn to color. "We Jedi don't go down easy."

"No you don't," Han agreed more fervently than seemed necessary.

"Han, I…"

He turned and faced her. "It's alright," he said. "I overstepped things back in the stateroom. I know that. It won't happen again."

Leia took a deep breath and stared out the canopy at the stars. Then, without a word, she leaned over, grabbed his cheeks, and kissed him as hard as she ever kissed anyone in her life. "I never said I didn't like it," she said when they parted.

Han stared, a stupid expression on his face. "Huh," he said.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"So why didn't you join the rebellion?" Winter asked Master Rahn.

The Jedi shrugged. "I had another mission. If Yoda wanted me to join him, he would have been able to reach me. Besides, I thought I was going to someday train Kyle over there in the ways of the Force. I sense he could be agreat Jedi."

Kyle snorted but said nothing.

The passenger compartment of the _Moldy Crow_ was not large. In fact, it was downright uncomfortable, especially for the days it took to get to Ruusan. But they managed, sleeping in shifts or more often than not watching old holovid recordings or just talking.

It was their second day en route, and boredom had given way to curiosity regarding the mysterious Jedi master.

Kale finally asked the question that had been eating away at him. "Master Rahn, do you know why Yoda is sending me to the Valley of the Jedi?"

"I've meditated on it long and hard, and I think I may know the reason." He leaned over, and very deliberately unfastened a portion of Kale's shirt to expose the still-fading scar from Hoth. "Darth Vader did that, did he not? I saw it in a vision from Master Yoda."

Kale nodded.

"You are otherwise impervious to most weapons?"

"Blasters, laser cannons and turbolasers hurt," Kale said, "but it would take a lot of them to kill me, I think."

"And yet Vader stabbed you through the chest. He and his master have found the key to your weakness. Always before, you've depended on your great strength and speed and your invulnerability. But that is no longer a constant. It is time for you to move beyond your mere native abilities, to embrace an even greater power. Yoda is sending you to the Valley to become one with the Force, and to master it."

"Is that possible?"

"All things are possible in the Force."

Suddenly the ship shuddered and all of them fell forward as the ship was violently pulled from hyperspace. From the cockpit, Kyle said, "Well, the Force had better come up with something, because we have trouble."

Kale froze, remembering another day three years before, in another ship. He held his sister then as the empire had blown their ship apart.

"A star destroyer?" Rahn asked, not noticing Kale's sudden fear.

"Nah, this thing is too big," he said. "It must be one of those _Executor_ classes Vader uses. It's huge."

Rahn duck-walked through the narrow bridge opening and looked through the canopy. "That is the _Dagger_, Jerec's personal star destroyer. He must have decided to follow us."

"Well, it worked." Jan was desperately attempting to pilot the ship, but the super star destroyer seemed to have them in its grip. "Where's the Sith-spawned interdictor?"

"There!" Kyle said. "Hard to port!"

"No, really?" she snapped back.

"It's no use," Rahn said. "They have us."

Back in the passenger's compartment, as Kale sat frozen, a warm hand took his, and he looked down into Winter's pale blue eyes. "You control your own fate," she said softly.

It was exactly the right thing to say, and he knew it. He leaned over and gave her a brotherly kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

A quick search under his seat revealed the emergency respirator masks. As the others in the cockpit obsessed with the tractor beam, Kale slipped the respirator on, made sure it had plenty of air, and looked back at Winter.

He then stepped into the air lock and jettisoned himself into space.

"What is that idiot doing?" Kyle roared.

"Saving us," Winter said as she too moved forward toward the cockpit to see. "He can survive hard vacuum."

"But how can he…" Kyle fell silent as he, Jan and Rahn watched a speck of life soar past them at sublight speeds toward the _Dagger_. "What is this kid?"

"Kryptonian," Jan said. "Whatever that means."

On board the _Dagger_, Governor Jerec, Master of the Inquisitorius and one of the most powerful men in the Empire, watched eagerly as his forces captured the rebel vessel. He knew from reports of his people that Rahn was on board, as was the son of Morgan Katarn. If that wasn't a red flag to where the Valley was he did not know what was.

The Valley of the Jedi would soon be his, and once it was, he would become powerful enough to overthrow even the mighty emperor himself.

"Sir!" the _Dagger's_ captain called. "An object is approaching the ship. It is roughly the size of a torpedo, but we can't get any reading on it."

"Then it must be rock or debris," Jerec said. "Destroy it."

"We've tried, m'lord. It dodged our shots, and in moments will be on the hull itself."

"Impossible!" Jerec hissed. He rushed across the bridge and stared down at the holoreadings of the ship's outer sensor net. The object resolved itself under magnification to that of a man flying alone and unaided through space, with only a respirator mask.

Jerec quailed. "Naberrie," he muttered. The two watched as the figure landed on the side of the destroyer and somehow punched through the hull and ripped a fifty-three metric ton tractor beam emitter out of the side of the ship.

"By the gods," the captain whispered. "What kind of droid is that?"

"He is no droid," Jerec said. "Open a com channel to Coruscant immediately. The Emperor must know of this."

"He is heading toward the interdictor cruiser now," the captain said, speaking in an awestruck monotone.

In open space, Kale flew through the vacuum with ease. Gone was his fear of heights. He focused not on the vast emptiness around him, but on his next target. He pushed himself faster and faster, took a large breath in case he lost his respirator in the process, and plunged directly through the hull plating of the interdictor cruiser as fast as he could.

Even to Kale, striking armor designed to withstand multiple turbolaser blasts was painful. But once he passed through the outer shell, the inner flooring levels gave way with greater ease.

Ahead he knew was shielding even he would have difficulty piercing. Even if he could, he was not sure enough in his invulnerability to want to. He summoned heat from his eyes and began superheating the outer shell of the hypermatter reactor of the destroyer, until the floor was molten. He came to a halt, ignoring the cries of the crew as many were pulled out into space through his breach, and jammed a fist through the floor as hard as he could.

He ripped away a layer of floor plating with his heat vision and fists, peeling the armor like a layered oldia bulb. He continued to pull back the layers of shielding until at last he came to the thickened plating of the reaction chamber itself.

"What are you doing?" an officer yelled over the rush of air. The bulkheads were slowly beginning to autoseal, but air was still escaping.

Ignoring the man, Kale raised his fist and struck. The metal bent under the incredible blow. Kale raised his fist and struck again. A thin jet of steam began shooting out. "Stop it, you'll kill us all!" the officer was yelling. He removed a blaster and fired.

Kale ignored the blaster bolt against his shoulder and struck a third time.

A wall of plasma exploded from the deepened crater that Kale dug, blowing the young man out into the chamber of the ship itself. He shook his head as a terrible groaning sound began to fill the room. With a last look at the officer, Kale soared back through the holes he had made, re-puncturing the newly sealed bulkheads and shooting back out into space.

As he soared back toward the _Moldy Crow_, the interdictor cruiser's hypermatter reactor exploded with force enough to disrupt even Kale's flight. The _Dagger_ actually listed away from the explosion as the concussive blast wave struck the starboard aft quarter of the massive vessel.

"Get us out of here!" Kyle shouted at Jan in their ship.

Suddenly Kale was outside their transparisteel canopy, his face freed of the respirator because of his imitation of a missile. With a look at the four people inside, Kale began to push. "He's moving us away from the blastwave," Jan said in shock. "Kyle, look at this! That kid's traveling at a third _c_! How can he do that?" She looked at Kyle and then Rahn. "Okay, okay. Yeah, I know. He's Kryptonian."

"Whatever that means," Kyle finished for her.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Darth Vader stood as the hologram of the Emperor faded from view. Beside him, Mara Jade also stood. "They've split their forces," she said.

"It was to be expected. I did not know of Qu Rahn, though. He could be trouble."

"The Emperor left it up to you on how to proceed," she said.

Vader lifted his head in thought. Kale was the greater threat to the Empire, without question. And yet Leia was his daughter. "How many converted blasters do we have?"

"Only ten," Mara said. "The vaporized crystal has a reaction with the tibanna gas that makes it very hard to stabilize. The guns are almost as dangerous to the troopers as they will be to Naberrie."

"I don't care," Vader said. He turned and looked at Mara. "Are you sure your priorities in this matter are clear, Mara Jade?"

"They are, m'lord."

"Then take half the fleet and rendezvous with Jerec to find and destroy Kale Naberrie. I will continue pursuit of the _Tantive IV_."

Mara bowed and left the room. A moment later, Captain Piett stepped in and snapped to attention. "M'Lord. We have news of the _Tantive IV_."

"Report, Captain."

"The _Tantive IV_ came under attack by a force of bounty hunters and was destroyed with all hands. However, at least two of the bounty hunter ships escaped."

Piett felt a pressure at his neck that lasted only a moment. "Dismissed," Vader said. The captain almost ran from the chamber. A moment later, Vader stepped to the holocom and sent a signal. An image resolved itself to reveal Boba Fett.

"Tell me my daughter lives, Fett," Vader said, "and you may live to see another day."

"She lives," Fett said. If he were frightened by the Dark Lord's threat, his voice did not reveal it. "She and Solo escaped on Dengar's ship before the _Tantive _exploded. I'm tracking them, but it looks like they're heading toward Bespin. They are going sublight."

"Why is that?"

"I disabled the hyperdrives on all my competitors**' **ships to ensure I was able to get away with the bounty alone. You'll have your princess soon enough."

Vader bowed his head. "Very well, Bounty Hunter. Make your way to Bespin. I don't care about Solo, but any harm to the Princess will be met with swift retribution. Bring her to me intact, and your reward will be substantial."

Boba Fett flipped off the com without bothering to respond.


	16. Part II: The Unbearable Lightness

**Chapter Sixteen: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Near Han**

Leia was not the best housekeeper in the world. She grew up with a bevy of servitor droids and human servants to tidy up the mess she always left. However, not being accustomed to cleaning did not necessarily mean she was accustomed to living in filth.

The newly acquired YT-1300 freighter was filthy. Although the engine and circuitry bays were immaculately kept, the living spaces on the ship were putrid. Food was allowed to rot on seats and the floor, and in some cases she could make out the outlines of hands and fingers where some unpleasant being had wiped filth on the walls.

The only droid on board was a beaten old R5 unit with a damaged motivator. It would go where she directed and just sit there beeping sullenly instead of working on its appointed task. So, with her ankle feeling better and the cast off, Princess Leia Amidala Organa Skywalker, Jedi Knight and deputy minister of the Alliance Diplomatic Corps, got on her hands and knees and started scrubbing the floor.

Solo stepped out of the cockpit and stopped in his tracks. "What are you doing?"

"I can't stand all this filth!" she said.

"Let the droid clean it."

"If the droid worked, it wouldn't have been this messy in the first place!"

Han Solo suddenly found himself in a quandary. Unlike the Princess, not only was he unaccustomed to cleaning, he was also very comfortable in filth. He had no problem with it. But she did. She was on her knees scrubbing away while recovering from serious injury, while he, a healthy colonel with no possible excuse, stood watching her.

He really did not like cleaning, but he really liked Leia.

"Ahh krif," he muttered. "Stop, I'll do it."

"No, you'll do that," she said. She pointed to the decomposing hand painting on the wall behind her. "You clean the walls. I'll take the floor."

And so as the freighter continued its course on autopilot, Han and Leia cleaned the interior of the ship. "So are you going to keep her?" the princess asked.

"I just might," Han said. "Whoever owned her did some great modifications. I've never seen a 1300 layout like this one."

"So who is this friend of yours at Bespin?"

"Not so much a friend as an acquaintance. Dominic Raynor. He's the baron administrator of Bespin's Cloud City. I know him from my academy days."

"He's an imperial?"

"He got court-martialed and served a year in prison when they found him embezzling academy funds into a secret account on Muunilist. He hates the Empire."

"And he steals."

"Yep. He's perfect for us."

Leia snorted. "So you like working with criminals?"

Han stopped for a moment and looked down at her. She must have sensed the pause and looked up. "I never said I liked him, Princess. I said he hated the Empire. That's what we need right now."

"Of course." It was as close to an apology as she was going to give him, and he realized it. She started scrubbing again. "So what did you do before you joined the Imperial Navy?"

Han shrugged and moved on to a new section of the wall. "A little of this, a little of that."

"Ashamed to talk about it?"

"Yeah, sure."

She heard heat in his words and stopped again. He continued washing the walls, though. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "I didn't have any right to assume anything. It's just, after three years I still don't know anything about you."

"Just pretend I wasn't born until I entered the academy," Solo said. "That way you know everything about me."

"But not who you are."

Finally Han dropped the sponge in her bucket of water and knelt down beside her. "You want to know who I was, Princess. Not who I am. I am right here, right now. I'm the man I want to be, not the boy I had to be. That's all you really need to know."

"That means you're not going to tell me."

He grinned a devilish grin. "Yep."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"No, I don't have an appointment with Baron Raynor. This is Han Solo of the…" he looked down at the databank on the ship, "_Millennium Falcon_. I am an old friend of his."

Leia watched as a pair of twin-pod cloud cars soared around the larger freighter.

Finally, the flight controller said: "_Millennium Falcon_, you are to proceed to landing pad 241-AB2. Any deviation from this course will result in your immediate disintegration."

"Friendly people," Leia noted.

"There's been a lot of tension since the Death Star," Han explained. "The Empire cracked down pretty hard and the independents have to be careful."

She settled back in her seat and stared out at the pink-tinged clouds. "It is beautiful," she whispered.

"Yeah. That it is."

She turned and found him looking at her. "What?" she demanded.

"Just enjoying the sights."

She flushed scarlet for a moment and turned away. "Han…I don't have a good feeling about this."

"You mean us?"

"I mean Bespin," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I can't place my finger on it, but something feels wrong here. I think we may be running into a trap. Are you sure you can't fix the hyperdrive yourself?"

"The motivator was shot," Han explained. "I mean literally, with a high power blaster. There's no fixing that. Don't worry, it'll be okay. You're a Jedi, and I'm Han. What could happen?"

The last managed to elicit a smile. "Yes. How unbearable it must be to be Han."

"Or near me."

"The unbearable lightness of being near Han," Leia whispered to herself with a smile. She saw him watching her closely. "Okay, it's not that bad being around you, when you behave."

"I don't know—you seem to like me more when I'm not behaving. You must like us scoundrels."

"I don't like scoundrels," Leia insisted. "I like nice men…"

Again, they were kissing, and again, Leia couldn't decide whether to slap him or kiss harder. So she sat there as their lips melded and their breaths joined and let the heat of their contact spread through her body.

He pulled back and grinned. "So, was that so unbearable?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered. "I need more time to study it."

"That I can do."

A laser cannon blast shot across their bow. "_Millennium Falcon_, you are deviating from your course," one of the cloud cars said over the com.

"Sorry," Han shouted back as he made the correction. He looked over at Leia and grinned. "Had a distraction. Won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't."

"A distraction?" Leia asked archly.

"You have no idea," Han said. "You've been distracting me since I joined this little party."

She smiled mysteriously. "Good."

Over a cloud bank the city came into view, floating majestically in the sky. Around it, they could see tibanna gas platforms and floating health spas, but it was the city itself, bathed in hues of lavender and pink, that caught the princess's eyes. "Wow," she whispered.

"Yeah, Raynor has a pretty good thing going here."

Their coordinates brought them to a landing platform that seemed suspended in open air a hundred meters or so above the busy streets of the city. As the landing ramp opened and the two stepped out, the sun began to sink out of view, casting the platform into shadow.

There was a single door facing them. The door opened and a short man with thinning hair came out, clad in a flourishing red cloak that hung down to his gundark leather boots. His fingers glistened with rings. He appeared like something out of a bad holodrama. What concerned Leia, though, were the two dozen security officers in line behind him.

"Solo," the short man said curtly.

"Raynor. You seem to be doing well."

Raynor took a long look at the ship behind Solo, then at Leia. She still wore her pants from Hoth, and the oversized shirt scrounged from the ship. "You don't," he said.

"So, our hyperdrive has been damaged and we need it repaired. We have credits. We'll be glad to pay for any expenses incurred."

The guards stepped forward, lining the platform on either side. "I would love to help you, Solo, I really would," Raynor said. "I have no love for the Empire. But I can't let them destroy this facility. You're my insurance to prevent that." He saw the cylinder hanging from Leia's belt. "I was warned your friend might be dangerous," he said, obviously insulting Han's own prowess. He pointed to a spot perhaps ten meters above the door he exited from. A hidden hatch slid open and a very large laser cannon protruded out.

"Resist, and you will die."

"What do you want?" Leia demanded.

"To be left alone," Raynor said. "I'm to hold you two until Lord Vader can pick you up, and then he is out of my hair." He looked back at Solo. "I'm sure you'd do the same to me."

"Nah, I'd just shoot you, you son of a bantah sow," Han snapped.

Raynor did not bother to smile. "Remove their weapons—all of them—and put them in separate detention cells." He looked back at the pair as Leia drifted to Han's side. "Daddy's orders," he sneered.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"Well, Kale, you may be faster than a blaster bolt and able to outrace TIE fighters, but as a Sabacc player you really stink," Kyle Katarn said as he scooped over the rest of Kale's credit chits from his last month's salary.

Kale shook his head. "I don't understand how you can win every game."

"I don't. You won three hands."

"Yeah, but you didn't bet anything, so the wins hardly did me any good."

"That's because I always knew when you had a hand, and when you didn't, and I could tell when you just weren't sure enough to risk it, whether you could win or not. It's called a sabacc face, kid, and you don't have it."

"Be nice, Kyle," Jan called from the cockpit. "He saved our lives back on Sulon."

"It's all right," Kale said. "I didn't have anything to spend them on anyway. You probably need those credits more than I do."

"And as the last surviving child of the Naberrie family, you're the heir of a fortune large enough to buy ten luxury star liners," Winter pointed out. "Leia and I managed to move most of the Naberrie family funds before the Empire closed down the accounts. Financial tyranny is not Vader's first approach. They didn't even look at the accounts until a month or so after your family's death."

"In that case," Kyle said with a grin, "let's play another game!"

"We're coming up on Ruusan," Jan called from the cockpit, possibly saving a good portion of the Naberrie family fortune.

"About time," Kyle muttered. "How can a planet that was so important the Jedi and Sith fought seven battles over it be so far removed from any of the hyperspace lanes?"

Over the days of their journey, Qu Rahn had explained the nature of the Valley of the Jedi and the history behind it. "Nothing remains the same," the Jedi Master said in response to Kyle's question. "It has been a thousand years. The planet was strategic for its location and nothing more, and with the death of so many Force users in one place, it frankly was not a comfortable place to be. There are still some native species there—I've met a Bouncer or two, plus there are a few trader colonies. Otherwise, with the hyperspace lanes shifting, the planet is barren."

"Well, we'll find out in a little bit," Jan said from the front. "Reverting from hyperspace…now. Oh Sith spit!"

"What?" Kyle called. In his seat, though, Qu Rahn stiffened. "They beat us here," he said. "The Empire is here."

Kale scrambled to the front. "What is it with this Jerec character?" he muttered.

"That's not Jerec, that's the Imp's entire sector fleet!" Jan said. Kale and Winter also scrambled toward the front to look out the cockpit canopy. There were at the very least sixty Imperial star destroyers arrayed around the planet. In their midst was the long, black, dagger-shaped super star destroyer they had encountered en route.

"How did they get here so fast?" Kale demanded.

"The _Moldy Crow_ is a mercenary ship, not a racer," Kyle snapped. "They're just fast ships. They must have calculated our trajectory."

"I told you we should have used a short jump off the coordinates," Jan muttered.

"We were in a hurry!"

"Stop arguing and figure out what we're going to do!" Winter said.

"Well, they've definitely seen us," Kyle said. "Interdiction fields just popped up over the whole system. And I'm reading TIE fighters on approach."

"How many?" Kale asked.

"All of them," Jan muttered. "The full wing from each destroyer. Over three thousand easy."

"That's too much, even for you, Kale," Winter said.

"Can we out run them?" Kale asked.

"Not a chance." Kyle sat back. "I'm not seeing a whole lot of options here."

From the passenger compartment of the ship, Qu Rahn said, "Kale, they have only one mission. To kill you. They will destroy anyone or anything to accomplish that task. If we surrender, they will be able to use their new weapons against you. If we choose to fight, you would survive, but this ship would not. They know you are more powerful than any human or even any Jedi, and so they employ such overwhelming force they hope to limit your choices to suicide, or to watching your friends die."

Kale involuntarily looked at Winter as he walked back to the Jedi. "Is there anything we can do?"

Rahn blinked. "It is a desperate hour. But there are always decisions to be made. If we fight in space, we will surely die and you will find yourself alone in space surrounded by sixty star destroyers. You might survive, but depending on what weapons they have against you, you may not."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Fight them where you are strongest. In an atmosphere, with gravity that restrains them, but not you."

"They'll have those green lightsabers that can cut me."

"You have a lightsaber of your own now, and a Jedi Master with one as well," Rahn pointed out.

"They're hailing us," Kyle said. "Fight, flee or surrender?"

Kale stared into the Jedi Master's calm face. "Surrender," he said. "We'll fight them on their ships."


	17. Part II: Governor Jerec

**Chapter Seventeen: Governor Jerec Is A Big Fat Idiot**

"They are surrendering," the cold voice from the beautiful blonde said.

Mara Jade viewed Sariss with open contempt. The other Dark Jedi returned the contempt with full force, while Jerec observed the two in the Force with a smile. The icy blue cold and the hot red fire of the two opposing Dark Side disciples appealed to the Miraluka, who had no eyes but was able to see through the power of the Force inherent in his people. The fallen Jedi enjoyed the immediate clash of personalities between the two and hoped to exploit it further for his personal gratification.

"Have them brought aboard and secured," Jerec said.

"No, destroy the ship," Mara said. "Destroy it now. Hit it with every turbolaser in the fleet."

"And lose my chance to see Master Rahn's face when I kill him?" Jerec said. "I think not."

"I speak for the Emperor, Governor Jerec. You are to fire on that ship now."

"I am his Majesty's duly appointed sector governor in this region," Jerec said with an oily smile. "Short of a written authorization in his hand stating otherwise, I do not take orders from you."

"Then you are a fool, and you'll be dead before the end of the day."

Sariss stepped directly in front of Mara. "Is that a threat, little Hand?"

"It is a statement of fact," Mara said, biting down her rage. "Either by my hand, the Emperor's hand, or Kale Naberrie's." To Jerec, she said, "Are you going to destroy the ship or not?"

"I will not," Jerec said with a dismissive wave. "Nor will I allow you to order any of your other ships to fire. I want those passengers alive so I can deal with them."

"Then you'd better be there when the door opens. You might get a second or two to look at Naberrie before he rips your ship apart."

"Nonsense. You have your adapted blasters which you assured me could harm him, and we have the new lightsabers which can pierce his flesh. Between my Dark Jedi and yourself, we should have little trouble with these six rebels."

Despite the best education the Emperor could provide, Mara simply did not have the words to express the absolute, depraved stupidity of the man in front of her. However, her theoretical authority as Hand was in direct conflict with the facts of the matter. Though she spoke with the voice of the Emperor, he acted as a commissioned official of the Empire, and as such had direct command over the ships she brought with her.

So, she prepared to do her duty as best she could. She felt Sariss and Jerec follow behind her. On their way to the hangar deck, they were joined by three more of Jerec's pet dark Jedi, an idiotic and leering Twi'lek named Boc Aseda and the two twisted Sithspawn, Gorc and Pic.

In addition was her personal squad of stormtroopers, each carrying a modified BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle designed to fire a bolt laced with vaporized Kryptonite crystal, just as her lightsaber, and the sabers she gave to Jerec's pets, were also built using a Kryptonite crystal to produce a blade that could penetrate Naberrie's body.

Somehow, though, she did not believe it would be enough. In fact, she personally thought she was going to die. Her duty was clear, though. She would do everything she could to kill Kale Naberrie, even if it meant her death.

The mercenary's ship was already on its way into the hanger when they arrived. "Form up in two ranks," she instructed her soldiers. "First rank kneel down, second rank stand. I want you to start firing on that ship the moment the hatch opens."

"A little nervous, are we?" Sariss asked archly.

"We're all about to get our butts handed to us by an eighteen-year-old-boy," she said to Sariss, and over her shoulder, to Jerec. "Wouldn't that make you nervous as well?"

"I'll be the first to admit he is powerful," Jerec said. "But he is not a god."

"Are you sure?" Mara's question made the Miraluka wince.

The storm troopers took their positions. Behind them, Mara, Jerec and his dark Jedi took their positions as well. Everyone had their eyes on the sole hatch on the side of the ship. So they never saw the hole Kale made on the other side of the _Moldy Crow_.

They heard it, though, and began firing. From the corner of her eye, Mara saw a blur of motion approach from the right and knew whatever hope Jerec had of stopping Kale was gone. The blur tore through her stormtroopers with such speed and strength she felt blood splatter on her cheeks as armored helmets were crushed into rumpled cans.

"What is happening?" Jerec yelled, enraged.

"Exactly what I told you would happen," Mara screamed back. "You're about to die."

Gorc and Pic must have seen something between the two of them. The massive, mutated Gamorrean raised his hand in a Force grip. Kale tore through it with a shrug and hit the monster in the head. His fist did not throw the creature backward. Gorc's thick, sturdy head was simply not that strong.

The creature fell back to the floor, his head cloven nearly in two, while Pic chattered in rage like the mutated Kowakian monkey-lizard he was.

Sariss ground her teeth and took a swing at the blue of motion tearing through their hangar bay. Around them, storm troopers rushed in shouting for orders, only to be ripped to pieces by the blur of super-fast speed.

Sariss's swing was met by a golden lightsaber. For the first time since the ship landed, Kale allowed himself to slow to within human perception. Sariss found herself facing a handsome young man with broad, powerful shoulders and piercing blue eyes as radiant as her own. Whereas hers glittered like ice, his shone like diamonds.

"A friend of yours, Mara?" Kale asked over his shoulder.

"Not likely," Mara asked. She made an effort not to notice as Jerec and Boc Aseda both approached Kale from behind.

"I'm not attuned to the Force yet," Kale said conversationally, "but did you know I can hear a person's heartbeat at a hundred meters?"

He blurred back into motion, and when he returned to face Sariss with his saber, Boc Aseda lay on the floor in three separate, distinct pieces.

"You're more accustomed to killing, I see," Mara noted.

"Thanks to you and your master," Kale said darkly.

Jerec, oblivious to everything around him, swung his lightsaber at Kale.

Kale ignored it, and Mara soon discovered why. The swing was caught by the blue blade of Jedi Master Qu Rahn. "Jerec," Rahn said. "Always striking while the back is turned, I see. What did Jocasta ever see in you?"

"Something greater than herself!" Jerec snarled.

"You are a blind fool, Jerec," Rahn said.

Their fight could not even be described as a duel. Jerec took a wild swing which Rahn easily batted away before he then struck back, cutting through the fallen Jedi's neck and torso from his shoulder to his navel. Jerec managed to make a few gurgling rasps before he fell to the floor dead.

Sariss watched the whole affair in silence. Around them, more storm troopers gathered, until there were almost a thousand blasters pointed at them.

"An impasse," Mara said. "We can't kill you, Kale, but there is enough power here to kill even a Jedi master, and all of your friends." She nodded as the main hatch opened and Winter stood on the first step, with Kyle and Jan Ors behind her. "Do you want your friend there to die?"

Kale turned back to face her. "Do you want to see me really angry?" he whispered. "I know who and what I am now, Mara. I know what I can do. Do you want to find out?"

She still held her glowing saber in her hands. "I do as my Master commands," she said.

"I'll kill him after I kill you," Kale said.

"The Dark Side is more powerful than you can imagine, Kale," Mara said. To the ears of those around her, it sounded almost as if she were pleading. "I am bonded to my Master's voice. I must do as he commands. And he has commanded I kill you."

"You're a slave."

"Yes, I am."

"I'm not."

Many things happened at once. Kale burst into motion traveling faster than a blaster bolt. He saw Sariss raising her lightsaber after he was already away and running toward the first line of stormtroopers, and realized that she was not trying to attack him, but Qu Rahn. Her beautiful face was warped with rage and the need for revenge. Rahn had been watching Kale and Mara and seemed completely off his guard. He did not see the blade coming, and as fast as he was, Kale was already too close to the wall of stormtroopers to stop.

Mara yelled for the troopers to fire, but of course Kale was moving many times faster than the sound her vocal chords generated. With no choice but to continue on his path, Kale began plowing through stunned storm troopers.

Qu Rahn looked down in shock at the lightsaber protruding from his stomach while the troopers left alive who heard Mara's command opened fire. They fired at the _Moldy Crow_ for only a few seconds before Kale made his way through their ranks, killing hundreds in the course of seconds.

He came back around in a black-suited blur. He hit Sariss with the full force of his body. The dark Jedi broke and flew into a bulkhead almost twenty meters away, where she fell in a shattered mess to the floor.

Kale caught Rahn before the master even hit the floor and rushed him to the now damaged _Crow_.

"All defense systems fire!" Mara ordered.

Laser cannons placed in strategic positions across the hanger deck activated and started swinging toward the _Crow_. The blur that was Kale Naberrie took flight, and in seconds all ten cannons were destroyed. Suddenly he was in front of Mara, his lightsaber glowing gold.

She swung with all the training two Sith lords could provide. He caught her swing easily with his own blade and pushed her back. She Force-pushed, but he simply shrugged the power of the Force off like a slight breeze. She Force-pulled a modified blaster from a dead soldier's hands and fired.

Kale did not have the Force to guide his movement. He had only his native speed and reflexes, which by themselves were as fast as the fastest Jedi master. He slowed his perception of time down to a crawl and easily batted the modified blaster bolt back to its source.

Mara's gun exploded, throwing her back against a wall. She crumpled unconscious to the floor.

He looked around, and realized they were completely alone. He jogged to the_ Crow_, where Qu Rahn lay in Winter's arms. "Kale!" he gasped. "Kyle's droid Weegee has the coordinates to the Valley. Go. Become attuned to the Force and be the Jedi that Yoda hoped you could be."

"I will," Kale promised. "I'm sorry I could not stop her."

"There is no sorrow in the Force," Qu Rahn said. "I will become more powerful than ever before. And I will watch over you, as does Yoda and Obi-Wan. They watch you even now, my young friend. When you become attuned to the Force, you will perceive them. And they will continue your training. May the Force be with you."

"And you, Master," Kale whispered. The Jedi sighed one last time before closing his eyes. As the others watched, astounded, his body faded away leaving nothing but his robe.

Winter looked up at him. "What do we do now? They're probably ferrying over more stormtroopers from the other ships. The _Crow_ is damaged and any other ship we try to take out will be fired on."

Kale nodded and looked around the hangar. "What about this one?"

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"Could this destroyer land?"

"This is an Executor-class star destroyer," Kyle said. "It does not land on planets, it blows them up."

Kale shrugged. "Who said anything about landing it? What if we just crashed it?"

"Kale," Winter said, "a star destroyer crash is a devastating natural disaster for a planet. Master Rahn said there were sentients on the planet below. Killing the enemy is one thing, Kale, but murder is another."

Kale looked away from her, frustrated. "Then what do we do?"

"The next best thing," Kyle suggested. "This is a modified _Executor_ class ship. If it were to blow it could take out any ship within a hundred kilometers. If we launched a whole bunch of ships at once on automatic trajectories, it might give us a chance to make it down in one piece."

Kale nodded. "Okay. Let's get started. I have to do something, but I'll be back in a flash."

They knew he was being literal.

Thirty minutes later, as troop carrier after trooper carrier landed in the Dagger's hangar bay to to supplement the _Dagger_'s depleted troops, Kale Naberrie ripped through deck after deck, moving nearly as fast as the light of his image. His eyes burned red as he used his laser vision to soften each deck before punching through.

Then came the thickened plating above the _Dagger's_ hypermatter reactor. Kale hit it full on, but bounced back under the layers of ray and particle shielding and plating. Even with the shielding, though, he had made a dent. He attacked the surface, punching through the ray and particle shielding. The shielding simply parted before his fist as he tore through layer after layer of the shielding, just as he did with the interdictor cruiser they encountered on their way toward Ruusan.

As before, cracks appeared in the plating all around him, and streams of plasma shot up near him. He continued to pound and pull, rip and tear, until again the reactor was exposed. "Launch!" Kale called into his com. "I'll meet you on the surface."

To the surrounding fleet and the swarms of TIE fighters, they had no idea which of the twenty-four Skipray blastboats, twenty assault gunboats or thirty shuttles to attack. Every ship launched with a trajectory toward the planet.

Then the other ships began to read the overload of the exposed hypermatter reacting to the normal matter around it.

Destroyers and TIEs alike turned to flee, but it was too late. With a brilliant flash of light many times brighter than the white-dwarf star that orbited the system's red primary star, the _Dagger_ exploded with sufficient energy to destroy most of the TIE fighters in the area and three star destroyers. Lost amidst the wreckage and debris, one object smaller than most rocketed without control in a trail of flame toward the surface.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Han Solo paced the cell like a caged gundark. His fists were clenched, while a stream of obscenities spilled like water from his mouth. In his entire life, he had felt such rage only once before. That time, he punched his superior office for ordering him to kill a noble Wookiee, only to learn later Chewbacca was gunned down in the street like a rabid animal.

This time, though, felt even worse—he had led Leia into a trap. They were there because of him. The woman he…_liked? Cared for? Loved_?...was in danger because of his arrogant assumption that Raynor would help him.

"Would you keep it down over there?" a deep voice said through the air vents connecting the cells. "I'm trying to get some beauty sleep."

"Just try and come over and make me," Han snapped back.

"If I could do that, we wouldn't be here now, would we?"

"Suppose not. Who are you?"

The voice chuckled smoothly. "Lando Calrissian, at your service."

"Calrissian? Are you the same Calrissian that stopped the Norulac Pirates at Tanaab?"

"The one and only."

"That was a pretty nifty maneuver."

"Thank you. And to whom do I have the honor of addressing?"

"Colonel Han Solo."

"I'm afraid I've not heard that name before."

"Don't care. So, Calrissian, what did you do to get thrown in here?"

"I won a Sabacc game."

"What?"

"Against Raynor. I bet four million plus some interests I had on Nar Shaddaa and he bet his commission as baron administrator of this city. He lost."

"Four million credits, huh? Where'd you get that kind of money?"

"I have a feeling you're about to find out."

"What?" Then Han heard a click and low voices speaking together. A moment later, Han's door clicked and he saw a cyborg in a light gray unitard standing next to a stylishly dressed human with dark skin and a well-trimmed mustache.

"Lando Calrissian," the mustached man said as he offered his hand. "And this is my new friend Lobot."

Han took Lando's hand and nodded at the cyborg. "Colonel Han Solo."

"Colonel? Not with the Empire, I take it?"

"No. There was another prisoner captured with me. Do we know where she is?"

Lobot nodded. "Secured executive quarters near Raynor, under sedation."

"Sedation?"

"Raynor wished her Force abilities to be neutralized."

Lando stared first at one man, then the other. "Force abilities? This lady is Jedi?"

"This lady is Princess Leia Organa Skywalker of Alderaan."

Lando's eyes widened. "Hmmm. Look forward to meeting her."

"So what's happening here?" Han asked.

"Lobot is breaking me out," Lando explained. "I'm breaking you out just for the hell of it. Turns out the Mining Guild here advanced me the credits in the game in an attempt to oust Traynor. Since he isn't leaving voluntarily, we'll make him leave the other way."

"What other way is that?"

"Off the side of the city," Lando said with a broad smile. "We might be able to save your princess in the meantime."

"Better hurry, the Empire's on its way," Han warned.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Kale shot out of the exploding super star destroyer with all the speed he could muster. However, something odd happened the moment he left the radiation shielding of the destroyer and entered open space. He suddenly felt weak, and his chest burned with the need to breathe. He turned and watched as the _Dagger_ erupted with sufficient force to destroy many of the much smaller surrounding destroyers. What caught his eye, though, was the red giant-star around which the white dwarf orbited.

He felt a moment of vertigo and even fear as his mind brought forth the racial memory of his planet's death. The light from the red sun seemed almost to burn him while draining his strength.

The light from the white sun did a little to counter-act it, but it still burned like nothing he had ever felt before. He looked away from the red sun and toward the mottled brown and green planet he was falling toward. He tried to push himself faster, but the effort was too much. With a last gasp, he looked back at the red star before his eyes rolled up into his head and he started to spin uncontrollably.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"There he is!" Winter called.

"I think she's right," Jan said as she piloted the stolen Skipray blastboat through the thin atmosphere of the planet. The sky overhead was dominated still by the exploding super star destroyer. Although the devastation would be nothing compared to such a ship crashing into the surface, there would still be considerable ecological damage.

"Wait, what's wrong?" Winter demanded. "Look how he's falling!"

Kyle nodded as Jan brought the ship closer to his trajectory. "That's an uncontrolled fall," Kyle noted. "I'm still reading his vitals, so he's alive, but it doesn't look like he's conscious."

"Can we do anything?" Winter asked.

"Jan, match trajectories. Winter, strap in." Kyle left the co-pilot's seat and stepped past Winter, who strapped herself into one of the gunnery seats. "Jan, get me along-side him."

"Okay."

They were very fortunate that the Skipray Blastboat was one of the better performing atmospheric craft the Empire had, though for financial reasons the Empire preferred other less expensive ships and had only limited supplies of the popular but expensive blastboat.

In the hands of a capable pilot like Jan Ors, the Skipray could perform miracles, such as slowing to match speeds with a free-falling Kryptonian teen-ager. Kyle wrapped himself in a safety strap and opened the main hatch of the boat just behind the canopy windows. The wind struck with deafening power, but Kyle ignored it as he saw Kale just a few dozen meters off the side of the ship.

The boy was obviously unconscious, and seemed to actually be bleeding!

"Get me closer!" Kyle said.

"Any closer and we're going to suck him into the core coolant vent!" Jan called back.

_Use the Force_.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"I said, any closer and we're going to suck him into the core coolant vent!" Jan called again.

_Use the Force,_ a familiar voice whispered again. _The power is within you. Reach out with your mind, and pull the boy to you._

"This is crazy," Kyle muttered.

Somehow, though, he knew it wasn't. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Seconds felt like minutes as he intentionally touched the Force for the first time. He realized then that he had always had the Force, but his usage of it had been subtle, guiding him to a successful career as a storm trooper before he left Imperial service.

He reached out with this newfound power and felt Kale. He imagined a hand grabbing a hold of the young man and pulling him, and when he opened his eyes, Kyle laughed aloud as Kale began drifting toward him. He grabbed Kale's wrist and yanked him into the ship.

"Got him!"

"Then hang on!" Jan called back as she pulled the ship out of its shallow dive just a few hundred meters from the rocky surface of the planet.

The moment their flight stabilized, Winter was out of her seat. "Kale, are you all right?"

He looked up at her and smiled. His lips were chapped, cracked and bleeding. He had dozens of cuts and small burns over his body. "The red sun," he whispered. "Somehow, I'm not as strong."

"Good thing we caught you, then," Kyle said, still breathing heavy. He pointed to Weegee—the droid was plugged into the nav computer. "We have the coordinates to the valley and we're on our way now. You'll be a Jedi before you know it."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Mara Jade came awake in a small, cramped space to a feeling of weightlessness and intense, terrible pain.

She looked down at her right hand and gasped as unbidden tears came to her eyes.

Her arm ended in a blackened stub, over which a bacta patch had been placed. The whole hand was gone to below the wrist—consumed by the unstable reaction of the Kryptonite-laced blaster that exploded.

She curled up in a ball and held the stump to her stomach. This wasn't the end, she tried telling herself. Darth Vader was almost all machine. But it was the first time she had been so seriously injured, and the pain and loss were more devastating than she could have imagined.

_I feel your pain, My Hand,_ the Emperor's mind reached out to her and said. _Rest assured Kale Naberrie will die. I will see to it._

"I live to serve you," Mara said through pain-gritted teeth.

_And well appreciated is that service,_ the Emperor told her. _We will be united again soon, and the cause of your pain will be no more. In the meantime, follow them to the Valley of the Jedi. Drink of the power yourself. My apprentice grows weak in the search for his daughter. Become strong in the Force, Mara Jade, and take his place by my side!_

The Emperor's presence was gone. In his absence, she felt empty and utterly alone. Kale Naberrie was the source of her pain, this she knew without doubt. She also knew that he was the one who must have put her in the escape pod, and placed the bacta patch on her wrist. "Oh Kale," she whispered.


	18. Part II: Caverns and Clouds

**Chapter Eighteen: Caverns and Clouds**

Leia drifted up from consciousness slowly and became aware of a diffuse, gentle pink light. She forced her heavy lids open and stared up at a mildly arching ceiling glittering with refracted sunlight from a set of hanging crystals by the floor-to-ceiling window taking up the majority of the wall to her right. With effort, she managed to sit up and found Raynor sitting on a chair float at the end of the bed. He had three armed guards behind him.

"Princess," he said cordially. "I have informed Lord Vader that you were enjoying my hospitality. He expressed his eagerness to meet you."

"I'm sure he has," she whispered in a dry throat.

"I also told him Colonel Solo was dead."

Leia became very still, and then reached out with the Force until she felt him, alive and safe. "You're lying."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Raynor smiled. "My time is limited here, Princess. The guild has been trying to remove me as administrator for at least two years now. With the Empire coming, I find I now wish to absent myself from this city as much as they wish me to. But I am not an evil man. Han and I were once comrades, if not friends. By telling Lord Vader he was dead, it is my hope that he at least will be spared. But such a ruse would not work with you, would it?"

"No, Lord Vader can sense me almost anywhere."

"Because he is your father?" Raynor smiled at her expression. "I understand the Alliance's efforts to keep your relationship with Lord Vader a private affair. I have no interest in spreading rumors myself. I wish only to be allowed to leave in peace."

"I'm not stopping you."

"In a way, you are. The Empire arrived minutes ago. They are circling this planet—nearly thirty ships. Lord Vader is on his way down now. I'm sorry."

Leia jumped to her feet. She was surprised to find her lightsaber still on her hip. Raynor studied her and smiled again. "I have been told it is very difficult to stop a Jedi."

"Then why take me under custody in the first place?"

The door to the beautiful room opened, and a newcomer stepped in. Leia caught her breath as the visored helmet studied her. "For me," a harsh voice said.

"I understand you have met Boba Fett before?" Raynor asked.

"Enough of this, Raynor," the bounty hunter snarled. "Get out while you can."

The former Baron Administrator of Bespin City stood and bowed to Leia. "Princess. I would wish you well, but fate it seems has other ideas." Then he and his guards left.

Leia stared down the notorious bounty hunter with her lightsaber in hand.

"Try it, Jedi," Boba Fett said. "I've been hunting and killing your kind for twenty years. It might provide some fun before Darth Daddy…"

Leia Force-pulled the bounty hunter through the room while simultaneously igniting her saber and cutting a hole in the transparisteel window. With a startled roar Boba Fett went flying outside as a gust of wind rushed into the suddenly de-pressurized room. She knew with the bulky jetpack he was wearing it wouldn't hold him for long, but it was enough to give her a head start. She darted out of the room just as an organic-seeking missile struck the spot she was just standing in.

The explosion threw her from her feet into the wide, mostly empty hall. Nearby doors opened and people looked out to see what was happening before quickly ducking back in. She scrambled back to her feet and ran as fast as her feet would take her to the nearest turbolift.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"Raynor has left the city," Lobot suddenly said. Lando and Han both turned and stared at him. "Imperial troops have landed in the East and West quarters and are starting to secure the facility," the cyborg continued. "Should I order security forces to resist?"

"Would they have a chance?" Calrissian asked.

"No. The Imperials have landed in overwhelming force."

"Then tell them not to resist. Send out a general alarm to the city as a whole that the Empire has arrived."

Lando looked at Han. "Well, Colonel, any ideas?"

"Yeah, we get Leia and get the hell out of this city."

"You have a ship?" Lando asked.

"I do now, if the hyperdrive was fixed."

"It was not," Lobot said. "However, I have ordered a crew to attend to it. It should be fixed within the hour."

The two other men shared a glance. "A lot can happen in an hour."

"You're telling me."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"Here, little Jedi," Boba Fett called, as if to a recalcitrant pet. Their chase had moved down into the bowels of the city, in a maze of darkened oval halls and strange vents that funneled the thin layer of breathable atmosphere in Bespin through the city.

Leia crouched atop one of a dozen chutes looking over a huge, open oval space that dropped down into the city core below. Every few seconds, an energy field appeared at different intervals to force air up into the city itself. On the far side of the massive opening, which was at the very least two hundred meters wide, she could see a lift platform.

The bounty hunter stepped onto the edge of the platform and looked around. He showed no fear of the terrifying drop just centimeters from his boots. "Where are you, little Jedi?"

The energy field on their level blinked on. She counted…..eight, nine, ten…. It went off. She counted again. One, two, three, four…

She dropped down on top of the bounty hunter's head, knocking him flat for a second. She swung at his backpack as he spun away and ignited a flame thrower. The flame caught Leia by surprise and forced her to jump back, but not before she was able to grab him with the Force and shove him over the edge.

The field came on. Leia gathered the Force within herself and shot over the field itself, her feet finding purchase against it as if it were a solid floor. She counted in her mind as she used the Force to propel her even faster. Eight…Nine… She launched herself into a Force-driven leap just as the field disappeared under her and landed with a thud and a huff of breath in the opposite platform. She climbed onto the lift and watched as a small spot of flame rose up from the center of the passage.

The next level's energy field activated. She ran across again, and again leapt to safety just as the field deactivated and boarded that side's lift. She both felt and heard Fett approaching; he launched another rocket. Leia spun around and pushed with the Force. The rocket turned in mid-flight back toward the bounty hunter as the next level's field activated and she once again sped to the opposite side and the lift that would take her to the final level.

Fett was below the field, shadowing her movement while waiting for an opening. He chose the moment she had to leap to fire his repeating blaster. In mid-leap, Leia spun around and batted the bolts back at Boba. One struck the armor of his shoulder and spun him around, giving Leia enough time to land and make it to the last lift.

By the time the upper field activated, she was able to run into the maintenance chute without further molestation. She came into a massive, darkly lit space with a strange pit in the center of it. Next to the pit stood a shadow she hoped never to see again.

"It is good to see you again, my daughter," Darth Vader said. "You have indeed grown powerful, just as the Emperor foresaw."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Han and Lando ran through a hangar bay on their way to a turbolift that would take them to the executive towers when Han slowed and grabbed Lando's sleeve. He pointed at an oddly shaped craft that looked almost like an alien snout projecting from an oval base. "I know that ship," he said. "That's Boba Fett's ship."

"Boba Fett?" Lando asked. "You mean the bounty hunter?"

"Yeah. He must have managed to get off the _Tantive IV_ before it blew. I bet he was the one that figured out where I was going."

"So what?"

"So, I owe him. Come on, it won't take long."

The ramp to the _Firespray_-class ship was down. Han looked around and ran quickly up the ramp five steps before he froze. "Hello, Solo," the bounty hunter's recorded voice said. "I didn't believe Raynor when he said you were dead. I also suspected you might try something with my ship. Did you know you're worth nearly 20,000 credits to the Empire? Treason tends to make them mad." The ramp started to rise. Han dove for the opening, only to be struck and knocked back inside by another door swinging down from the projecting nose of the weapons platform.

Lando watched hopelessly. "Can we get that open?" he asked Lobot.

"The ship is extensively booby-trapped," the Cyborg said, studying the ship not just with his eyes but also the city's security sensors. "Any attempt to open it would likely destroy the ship."

Suddenly stormtroopers rushed into the hangar on the far side. "Well, we have other things to worry about," Lando decided. "So long, Solo. Good luck with that treason thing." He and the cyborg turned and ran for their lives.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

A three hundred meter-wide piece of debris from the _Dagger's _demise struck the mountain side with the kinetic force of a missile. The mountain cracked at the base with a deep, reverberating groan as if the planet itself were suffering under the barrage of debris.

An object 15 kilometers long that exploded in orbit was going to have consequences for the planet below. As Kyle, Jan, Winter and Kale trudged along the narrow bank just above a raging, torrential river, they knew the falling mountain was the least of the problems they would face—not all of the contrails in the sky were from falling debris.

"That's a lot of drop ships," Kyle noticed, wincing as the mountain crumbled into the river. He knew the debris would form a massive dam that would affect the water distribution through the whole region, they just couldn't do anything about it.

"How are you?" Winter asked as Kale rested an arm around her shoulder.

"I'm getting better," Kale said. Already his wounds were healing, but much slower than normal. "It must be the legacy of my home world. Krypton's sun was red too." He concentrated and for a moment lifted a few inches off the ground before returning to the surface. "I think I could fly if I needed to," he said. "But I don't think I could carry anyone."

"That's alright, Kid," Kyle said. "We're getting closer to the coordinates for the valley. It's looking like it's going to be underground, though. We may have a fight getting to it."

"We'll do what we have to," Kale said with a determined look in his eyes.

The valley narrowed as they approached the still unstable dam. The walls shook with residual quakes from the impact and seismic shock of the mountain's collapse. "Well, according to the coordinates it's just over that mess," Kyle said. "Not surprising. Any suggestions?"

Kale looked down at the river and narrowed his eyes in concentration. It took more effort than he was accustomed to, but eventually he was able to pierce the layers of rock and sand until he saw the passage he was looking for.

"We can get there through the river bottom," he said.

"Through the water?" Winter was not exactly tan, but looking down at the river she looked absolutely pale.

"What water?"

They looked down and saw that the flow of the river had slowed to a mere stream. Odd, wiggling animals struggled in the muddy river bottom as the water that sustained them pooled on the other side of the dam.

"Not sure that mountain will hold for long," Kyle said.

"Then we'd better move," Kale said.

"You just said…." Winter started when Kale gathered the three of them in his long arms and stepped off the cliff. Winter screamed while Jan cursed using several colorful Huttese phrases Kale had only heard from Han Solo.

They fell down the thirty meter cliff until with a grunt at the effort Kale slowed their fall. They all sank up to their knees in the muddy river basin.

"Eeewww," Jan said. "What is that smell?"

Winter still looked petrified as she stared down at the sickly green slime sucking at her thighs. "Kale," she whispered, "don't you ever do that to me again!"

"Sorry," he said, ducking his head. He pointed to a crack in the valley wall a few dozen feet away.

Kyle tried taking a step, but the mud held him like cement. That's when they heard the grunting; all four looked to see a massive, gelatinous blob rolling across the muddy river bottom with an array of tentacles waving at them. "Water cyc," Kyle muttered. "Mr. Invincible, do we have any suggestions?"

"Uh, Mr. Wizard, do you have a blaster?" Jan said as she pulled hers.

"Oh, yeah," Kyle muttered. The two took aim and started firing until the blob suddenly burst and a sticky green fluid spilled out along the muddy river bed.

"That was disgusting," Winter said.

The ground suddenly rumbled, and a few hundred meters away, one of the boulders from the collapsed mountain fell from the top of the pile and sank into the river bed. A thin stream of water, barely visible, shot out like a spout.

"Hmmm," Kyle said. "Jan, can we get worried now?"

"Oh yeah," Jan said.

Kale pulled his legs out, but was simply too weak to fly. But there were other ways, he realized. He took as deep a breath as he could and blew.

"Holy mother of Sith," Kyle whispered in wide-eyed shock.

Where Kale's breath touched, the surface of the river bottom froze solid. "A trick I learned on Hoth," he said, gasping, when he had solidified the surface all the way to the crack. There was another rumble, and they turned to see another large boulder fall, exposing yet another stream of water. Around their thighs, a slight trickle of the river began to flow again.

"I'm still stuck," Kyle said.

Kale slurped through the mud, grabbed the mercenary, and threw him like a ball onto the smooth, frozen path. "Aaarrrgghhh," Kyle yelled as he slid down the narrow lane until he disappeared into the crack. From the distance, he heard the man yell, "I did not like that, Kale!"

"Get ready to catch Jan!" Kale said.

"No!" Jan said.

"No!" Kyle shouted from behind the crack.

Jan screamed as she slid across the river bottom. Down the valley, the dam cracked. What had been two spouts of water became a torrent.

"Kale," Winter whispered.

"You saved my life," he said. "You've been my best friend for three years. I'll die before I let anything happen to you." He took her hands, pulled her from the mud, and then with his arm around her waist the two of them shot down the frozen alley into a narrow crevasse, where Kyle and Jan were waiting. Both looked put out.

"We have to hurry!" Kale urged. "We go down and then up. If we don't get past the water trap, we'll end up drowning."

Deciding staying alive was more important than berating an eighteen-year-old, the four of them scrambled down the crevasse until they came to a series of large steps leading up into shadow. By the time they reached the base, water was already spilling around their feet.

Kyle jumped up and then helped Jan. Kale simply lifted Winter up before climbing up himself. The trickle of water became a flood and quickly rose up around their feet even on the first step.

"The third step should be safe," Kale said. Kyle and Jan were already on the second.

By the time they made it to the top of the third step, the swirling water stopped rising in the middle of the second step. Jan pulled a small glow rod from her pocket and found the passage Kale had seen from above. "Which way?"

"Right," he said with certainty. He noticed then that Winter was still holding tight to him, shivering in the cold as she rested her head against his chest. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"You're warm," she answered. He held her a little closer and the four of them started down the passageway.

No one could say for sure how long they walked. In the darkness it seemed to take forever, but when they arrived into the valley it seemed as if they had only been walking for minutes.

"Wow," Kyle whispered.

"Wow is right," Jan said. "How could this place have been forgotten?"

Kale ignored them both and stared at the massive cavern. Statues of unbelievable size rose in relief against the walls, while surrounding a central hemisphere of black stone in the very center he could see six robed statues holding staffs before them in seeming salute to the rock.

"This place is throbbing," Kyle said. "Do you hear it?"

Winter and Jan both shook their heads. Kale said nothing, but he also could not hear anything. He was as deaf to the Force as the women beside him. He followed Kyle down the center until they stood before the stone.

Kyle placed a hand on it and bowed his head. "This is incredible," he whispered. Nodding with sudden understanding, he held up a hand and with the Force pushed. One of the statues moved back with a grinding of stone on stone.

"We need to move them all back," he explained.

Kale didn't dare use the Force for fear of bringing down the whole cavern. He used brute muscle instead, and between the two of them had all six statues moved back away from the black stone.

Instantly the ground began to shake. Bright white light shone from the black stone as suddenly a tower exploded from the rock and shot toward the roof of the massive enclosed cavern.

It stopped midway there, and at the very top of the tower they could all see a glinting crystal, while along the length of it was a column of brilliant, flickering light. "By the Force," Winter said.

Without hesitating a second, Kyle started walking toward the beam of light. "Wait!" Jan called.

Kyle turned and smiled, then leaned over and kissed her. "It's okay. I was meant for this!"

He resumed his steps and paused before the pillar of light. "This is incredible!" he said. A second later he cried out in agony as a green spear of light burned through his stomach and stuck out his back in plain sight of Jan Ors.

"Kyle!" Jan screamed.

The mercenary flew back into Jan's waiting arms and sent both tumbling to the ground. Where Kyle once was now stood Mara Jade, her right hand wrapped in a bacta patch, her left wielding the lightsaber with just as much sureness as that of her missing appendage.

"This place isn't for you, Kale," she said. "It's for me!"

She stepped back into the pillar of light and suddenly flew up the tower toward the crystal at the top.

"You saved her again," Winter said as she knelt down by Jan. She looked up at Kale with an agonized expression. "You saved Mara again, didn't you? Kale, how could you do that? How could you put us all in danger for her?"

Kale opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't. There were no words. He put them all at risk because of his infatuation with a murderer. With nothing to say, Kale pulled his golden lightsaber and ran toward the light and stepped in.

An unseen force pushed him up along the length of the tower as the light pulsed around his body. It did not go through him, though, as he had seen it go through Mara. Rather, the light flowed around his body like water.

Still, it lifted him to a platform at the very top. In the center of the beam on the platform Kale saw a huge white adegan crystal, the kind used to make lightsabers. On the other side of this crystal, he saw Mara Jade staring at him with eyes that were not her own. Harnessing his own powers, Kale drifted across the gap between the two separate sides of the tower until he stood by her side. Her lightsaber hung deactivated from her belt.

"_You are the Palawan_," she said in a voice that sounded like a rippling chorus of thousands of singers projecting their music through a waterfall.

"I am Kryptonian."

"_You seek the power of the Force_."

"I do. Who are you? Where is Mara?"

"_We are the Force_," the voice said. "_There is no death. There is only the Force. We died here. We are the Force._"

Kale felt his breath catch. "The spirits of the Jedi."

"_There are no Jedi. There are no Sith. There is only the Force_."

She reached for the crystal in the center of the beam, and it came to her obediently. "_The Force is shaped by the life that creates it. From darkness to darkness. From light to light. Evil begets evil, goodness begets good. In this place darkness and light fought and died as one. Now there is only the Force_."

The crystal, easily as large as Kale's head, hung in the air above her palm. "_You are not of this galaxy. You are not of the Force. The Force does not flow through you. The Force does not flow from you. Why do you seek the Force_?"

It was a question he did not expect, and was unsure how to answer. Literally, he sought the Force because Ben and then Yoda told him to. He wouldn't have been there if Yoda hadn't told him to come. But he knew this thing in front of him that wasn't Mara wanted more than that. The Force did not flow from him…. He was not of this galaxy. He remembered something his biological father said on Hoth. _Perhaps if Pal-awa had been raised a Jedi, he would not have been unwelcome in your galaxy_, Jor-el had said.

"I seek the Force so that I will belong in this galaxy," Kale said. "It is the only home I've known. I wish to be a part of it. To serve it."

She nodded. "_To become one with the Force will require great sacrifice. Are you willing to give your life to the Force_?"

Kale didn't understand what that meant, but he knew there could only be one answer. "I am."

"_Then you must die, last son of Krypton_," the Force said.

The green lightsaber lit and flashed forward with speed greater even than Kale could stop. The searing agony of the blade once again burned through his chest.

Mara deactivated the blade and held the white crystal before his eyes. "_Let the Force flow through you, Kryptonian. Become one with the Force and feel its fire burn_!"

In the valley below, Winter looked up as she heard Kale's scream. It was stronger and more intense than anything she had heard since that day three years ago when she pulled him into her ship after he had lost his entire family. It was a pain of overwhelming physical agony and mental anguish. She felt tears well in her eyes.

"What's happening?" Kyle whispered.

"You're dead," Jan said. "You got stabbed through the heart by a lightsaber."

"Then why am I talking?"

"Because you're stubborn," she said as she cradled his head, leaned down and kissed him. "And if you live through this, I'm going to kick your butt for letting that witch stab you in the first place."

"Kick her butt," Kyle said weakly.

"That too."

On the top of the tower, Kale looked down and saw the white light no longer flowing around his body, but plunging into the hole Mara's lightsaber made in his chest. Every pore of his skin tingled, every hair on his body stood on end. He felt the sheer power of it lifting him as it filled his body.

Suddenly it seemed as if the world exploded. The statues suddenly came alive with alien voices speaking to him of wars long past, while ghosts of dead Jedi and Sith bounced around the valley like reflected blaster bolts. And just off the edge of the platform, floating freely in the air, he saw Ben Kenobi smiling gently at him.

"_Welcome home, my son_," the Jedi whispered. "_The Force _will_ be with you now, always_."

And suddenly it was over. Kale fell to his knees gasping for breath as his body continued to tingle. He looked up, expecting to see Mara still standing over him, but the Imperial agent was curled up in the corner of the platform, her hands over her head, crying.

"Mara, is that you?"

She looked at him, her eyes red, her teeth bared. "What did you do to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's gone!" she moaned. "I can't hear my master's voice." She covered her face again and cried. "I'm nothing," she muttered to herself. "I'm nothing."

Kale crawled to her side. "You don't have to be nothing."

She shoved the stump of her hand in his face. "You did this to me! You took my hand, you took my connection to the Emperor. You've taken everything that mattered to me away."

"Like you took my family?"

She stopped and blinked. "I hate you," she whispered.

"I wish I could say the same," Kale admitted. "Maybe my friend would not be dying down there if I had let you die on the star destroyer. There's a woman down there who loves me and wants to be with me. But I just can't get you out of my mind."

He saw her lightsaber then, and so did she. It jumped obligingly to his hand as Mara watched, wide-eyed. The saber felt odd to him, and he realized quickly what had happened.

"I can't keep doing this," Kale whispered. "I can't keep saving you and putting my friends in danger. I can't let you keep coming after me. It has to stop."

Mara closed her eyes, waiting. She was not expecting the feel of a cold cylinder in her hand. She opened it and stared down at her weapon, then up at Kale's face. "I love you, Mara Jade. I have no right to, but I do. I can't kill you, especially not now." He gently lifted her left hand until the emitter of the lightsaber rested under his chin. Around him, he sensed the Jedi howling in denial. He thought he saw the glittering shades of Ben and Yoda both looking on in despair, but he paid them no heed.

"If you turn it on now," he said as he looked her in the eyes, "I'll die. But just tell me before you do it. Tell me the truth. Did you ever love me? On that day on Naboo we spent together. Did you love me as much as I loved you?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Kale," she whispered. "I must obey my master."

"And what does he tell you to do right now?"

She ground her teeth and stared into his eyes. He saw her thumb hovering over the activation switch. "I am a servant of the Empire," she said through her tears as she thumbed the switch on.


	19. Part II: The Dark Side

**Chapter Nineteen: The Dark Side**

Darth Vader stood in the center of a large, darkened chamber in the heart of Cloud City. A few meters away stood Leia Organa Skywalker, his daughter and his avowed enemy.

"Tell me, how is Colonel Solo?" Vader asked.

Leia crouched down at the ready. "He's dead."

"Is he?" The Dark Lord lifted a com. "Bounty Hunter, do you have the Corellian?"

Over the com, Leia heard Boba Fett's rasping voice say, "Yes."

"Deliver him to the freezing chamber and have him frozen in the carbonite."

"As you wish," Boba Fett said.

Leia felt her heart skip a beat. "Carbonite?"

"Assuming he survives the freezing process, he will be very well protected," Vader said. "If you obey me, I might even keep him alive."

"If you hurt him…" Leia whispered.

"Ahhhh. Your anger burns strongly," Vader said. "Let it flow, my daughter. Release your anger and let it make you powerful. That is the only way you can defeat me."

"I don't want to defeat you, I want to stay away from you," Leia said. "You murdered my mother and her entire family. You murdered my real father and my entire family. It burns me to think that I am somehow related to you."

"Yet you have taken my name."

"That name no longer has any meaning to you," Leia spat. "Anakin Skywalker was a noble Jedi Knight who would gladly risk his life for another. You're a murdering bastard."

The taunting was too much. Vader lifted his sword and swung down in a powerful blow that could have cut Leia in half, had she not easily side-stepped it and sliced at his shoulder. Her blade bounced off his armor weave with a shower of sparks and a groan.

"Not as powerful as you think," Leia said.

Suddenly the whole room exploded into motion as every loose object in the area flew toward Leia. Her danger sense flared as she ducked, spun and tried to leap out of the way. In the middle of this shower Vader attacked again.

It was what she was waiting for. After three years of intense study at the hands of arguably one of the greatest Jedi to ever live, Leia knew a few tricks herself. She waited until he was almost on her to Force-grip one of the many objects flying around the room and slam it into Vader's helmet.

The Sith Lord stumbled to the floor as everything in the air fell back to the floor. "I'm not some silly padawan!" Leia hissed. "I am a Jedi Knight. I am a Skywalker. If you have any memory of what that name means, you should beware!"

He stood slowly to face her, his red blade illuminating his boots. "You remind me of your mother," he said then. "Of her will and energy; of her outrage. I was willing to die for her, or kill for her. Everything I did, I did for her."

Leia snorted in contempt. "Is that what you tell yourself at night?"

"It was. Every night. Until the night I learned my children had lived, that I had a daughter."

He deactivated his saber.

"What is this?" Leia demanded tensely.

"When I look at you now, I see her then," Vader said. "How she looked at me as I choked her." He took a slow step forward. "I loved your mother."

Leia reached out with the Force, trying to sense guile or deceit. For the first time, she felt no barrier there. In her mind she saw…two figures on a platform over a lake of fire—a very pregnant woman looking at him with agony in her eyes. "_I don't know you anymore. Anakin, you're breaking my heart. I'll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can't follow_."

"_Come back_!" Leia's mother said. "_I love you_."

Anakin saw Obi-Wan walking down the ramp of the woman's ship. Through his memory, Leia felt the agonizing spike of betrayal and pain. "_Liar_!" he cried.

The memories that followed tumbled together into a veil of fire and pain so intense it made her gasp. And then the world looked red. A sibilant voice is speaking as if from a great distance. "_Lord Vader, can you hear me_?" the voice asked.

"_Yes, my master_."

Through the haze of red, she looked around the room and heard the voice she has grown up knowing as Darth Vader. "_Where is Padme? Is she safe? Is she all right_?"

The sibilant voice managed to convey sorrow, sympathy and delight all in one. "I'm afraid she died. It seems in your anger, you killed her."

_No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! _

The pain brought Leia to her knees. Suddenly, it was gone and she scrambled away in horror when she looked up to find the Dark Lord of the Sith kneeling in front of her. "He lied to me," Vader whispered. "All those years ago, he lied."

"Yes he did," Leia said. "That's what the Sith do, Father. They lie."

"Yes." The panel flew out of nowhere, and with her defenses down, the object moved with speed beyond Leia's ability to deflect or avoid. It struck her in the back of the head and knocked her forward into the Sith lord's waiting arms. She did not move as he cradled her. "He lied to me," Vader said to his unconscious daughter, "and together we will make him pay for his treachery."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Boba Fett walked back to _Slave I_ with an intense feeling of satisfaction. His bounty for the princess was over 800,000 credits. With the addition of the bounty for Solo, Boba had made a nice sum of money to add to his already considerable retirement account. That reminded him that he needed to pay a visit to his accountants on Muunilist to make sure they were keeping their thefts of his funds within reason. As long as he had more than he started with, he let them play their games. But if they ever touched his principal or more than a portion of his returns, heads would roll.

Or flop, since Muuns tended to have very square heads.

He activated his ramp and watched as the cloud of sleeping gas dissipated. Solo remained on the floor of the ship, right where the bounty-hunter's trap had caught him. "Told you I'd see you again, Solo," Boba said.

"Hey, bounty hunter!" a voice called.

Boba turned and saw a man in blue slacks, a blue blouse and a long blue cape standing on the hanger twenty meters away with a very large weapon. "I'd like you to say hello to my little friend, Mr. Stouker," Lando Calrissian said as he pulled the trigger of the Stouker concussion rifle.

Boba Fett kicked his jet pack on, but was too late. The concussion blast struck the ground at his feet and tossed the bounty hunter in an arc across the landing surface to the edge of the open pad.

"I don't like bounty hunters on my city," Lando said. Boba Fett turned to fire and caught the next blast of the rifle full in the chest.

The blast ripped the chest plating of his armor off and sent Boba Fett's jetpack rocketing through the air as the bounty hunter himself fell off the platform that just so happened to be residing on the very edge of the city. Lando carefully moved to the edge on his hands and knees and watched as Fett bounced a few times off the edges of the city before falling clear into the ever-thickening atmosphere of the gas giant.

"What will kill him first?" Lando asked Lobot as the still-standing cyborg joined him with no hint of vertigo or fear of heights.

"He should leave the Life Zone after ten minutes of free fall and enter the bands of metallic gas. If his armor has oxygen, then the pressure will kill him in twenty minutes. If it does not, the metallic gas will kill him in ten."

"Good," Lando said. "Now, let's go get Colonel Solo before those stormtroopers come."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Mara ground her teeth and stared into Kale's eyes. He saw her thumb hovering over the activation switch. "I am a servant of the empire," she said through her tears as she thumbed the switch on.

What should have emerged was a green blade of energy lethal to Kryptonian physiology. What actually emerged was a beam of white energy that struck Kale on the chin and then shorted out.

Mara stared in horror at the hilt, and then dropped it. "The Valley did that," she whipered numbly

"Yes. It drained the radioactive elements of Krypton from the crystal," Kale said.

Mara bowed her head. "Please kill me, Kale."

"I haven't yet, what makes you think I will now?"

She stared at him, stunned. "I just tried to kill you."

He gently touched her cheek. "You knew the crystal was changed. I have the Force now, Mara. I can sense your anguish. You don't want to kill me. But you can't stand failing your master, so you want to die. You want to die while making a show of trying to kill me, so that he'll approve of you at last. But he doesn't approve of you, Mara. He's been lying to you your whole life, using you. And if you die, I promise you he won't care."

"You don't understand," she said as she wept. "He has been there my whole life. He's all I have. He's…"

Kale wrapped his hand through her long red hair and pulled her toward him until their lips met. He felt her despair and longing, and the pain from her severed connection with the Emperor, not to mention her hand. He felt all that and more, but it did not matter. He loved this woman.

Their lips parted and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Kale, how can you do this, after all I've done? I don't deserve you."

"You didn't deserve to be raised as a slave either," Kale said.

"I'm a servant of the…."

He kissed her again, hard. He felt her heart thudding against his chest and the heat of her body melding with his. "You're a prisoner of the Alliance," Kale said. "You're in my custody. But you could be so much more, Mara. Join us."

She gently reached out to touch his cheek. "You are so beautiful," she said, as if in wonder. "So perfect. I do love you, Kale. Be it my death, I do love you." She dropped her hand. "But I can't join you. I'm sorry."

Kale nodded. "I understand. Will he let you back?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "But I have to return to his side. I have to."

"I won't stop you."

"And I won't try to stop you," she said. She removed her reserve bacta patch from her hip pouch and handed it to him. "I missed Katarn's heart. He should live."

"You did that on purpose?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, I suppose not." He leaned over and kissed her one last time, and this time she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him fiercely.

"Be with your woman, Kale," she said through her tears. "You deserve what happiness you can find."

"You do too, believe it or not." With a last touch of her cheek, Kale stepped from the platform.

In the valley below, Winter, Jan and the injured Kyle watched as Kale fell unaided and landed with a thud that cracked the ground under his feet. He stood and walked calmly to Kyle's side.

"She missed," Kyle said as he lay with his head in Jan's lap.

"She never misses," Kale said. He knelt down and lifted Kyle in his arms. He looked at Jan as he did so. "He will be okay."

"And Mara?" Winter demanded.

Kale looked at her for the longest time then turned back to the top of the tower. "Mara is gone. We're done here—I got what I needed."

He turned and carried Kyle to the light, and the healing power of the Force.

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

"I will never join you," Leia Organa Skywalker declared as she stood before the Emperor on Imperial Center, formerly known as Coruscant. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

Emperor Palpatine sneered, exposing the metal wiring that comprised much of his long-rotten teeth. "So be it, Jedi."

He turned to Vader. "You know what to do if she refuses to turn, Lord Vader?"

"She will join us, or die, My Master," Vader said from Leia's side.

"Shall we show her the full power of the Dark Side, Lord Vader?"

"As you wish, Master."

Palpatine raised a pale white hand. Two of the four crimson-clad guards moved from their post on either side of the throne and disappeared down a side-passage hidden in shadow. Moments later they emerged with Mara Jade walking between them. Leia noticed with interest that the assassin's right hand was gone, replaced by a bulky black set of tri-pincers instead of a traditional cybernetic replacement. The red-head's eyes were red, her face drawn and pale. She stood a meter from Leia, and then quickly fell to one knee before Palpatine.

"My Master," she said in a tremulous voice.

"You disappointed me, my child," Palpatine said. "I have lost your sense in my mind, but my spies tell me you failed in your mission."

"I failed, My Master," Mara said without looking up.

"You are no longer my Hand, Mara Jade," Palpatine said. Mara looked up, her face stricken as if she were shot. "I will find some chore more fitting your lesser abilities here at the palace," the Emperor continued coldly. "Failure cannot be tolerated, wouldn't you agree, Mara Jade?"

She bowed her head again, almost to the floor. "Yes, My Master."

"In time, Leia Skywalker here will prove a much more worthy Hand than you. Is that not so, Lord Vader?"

"Yes, My Master," Vader said.

Palpatine's smile looked skeletal. "What must be done with failure, Mara Jade?"

Leia thought she heard the hint of a sob, but it was not audible in Mara's voice. "It must be punished, Master."

The torrent of blue lightning shocked Leia with its sheer power and ferociousness. She backed away with a gasp as the Force lightning struck Mara in full. The young woman, perhaps even younger than Leia, threw her head back in a scream of agony that echoed through the throne room.

When it ended, Leia felt moisture on her cheeks and realized she had been weeping in sympathy for the very woman who had abducted her three years before.

Mara lay prostrate on the floor, gasping as wisps of steam rose from her body. She groaned as two Imperial Guards roughly lifted her by her arms. Her red hair hung limply over her face as she was pulled to her knees.

"You had so much promise, child," Palpatine said of the fallen HAND. He sounded like a twisted old grandfather talking to a recalcitrant child. "But you shall learn to serve even in your diminished capacity. Take her away."

He turned his malevolent glare to Leia. "You have seen but a glimpse of the power of the Dark Side. Think about that, Young Padawan. Take her to her cell, Lord Vader**,** to let her consider her future."

"As you wish, My Master," Vader said.

When the last echoes of Vader's footsteps faded, Palpatine nodded to himself and stood from his throne. He moved slowly through the throne room until he came to his personal carrier and sat down. The Imperial guards remained standing and moved at a swift jog in a squad of four around the carrier as the Emperor was driven through the darkened halls of his palace. After five lifts down into the depths of the old city below the palace, they finally arrived at Palpatine's destination.

Held in an array of particle and stasis fields was what looked like a large floating mirror, square in shape but turned to form a diamond. It was two-dimensional, so much so that it was barely a micron in width, and yet when stared at from its flat face it appeared to have infinite depth. The alien artifact was found drifting a few parsecs from Tatooine just two weeks prior.

From the impossible depths of the device, Palpatine saw faces staring back at him. In the Force, he knew this was both profoundly dangerous and potentially exciting.

"Has the containment field been completed yet?" he asked his head of research.

Raith Seinar nodded curtly to the Emperor without looking up from a panel of controls. The Emperor allowed such impertinence since he always got results. "Yes, M'lord. We've incorporated the crystalline molecules into the field itself and it is permeable from the outside, as you required.

"Very well," Palpatine said. "Break the portal."

A modified Geonosian sonic rifle held in place by clamps and a droid hand suddenly fired at the diamond-shaped surface. The concussive force of the sonic energy waves shattered the molecule-thick event horizon with a sound like shattering glass, though the "shards" from the rupture seemed simply to fade away.

Three bodies somehow tumbled out of the space, assuming additional shape and size as they did so, until they tumbled up againstthe field. All three cried in surprised pain when they struck the field.

"Do you understand me?" Palpatine asked as the three quickly picked themselves up.

The larger of them stared at Palpatine stupidly, but the other male and lone female examined every facet of the field and the surrounding room before locking eyes on the Emperor.

"I understand you," the bearded leader said at last in Galactic Basic.

"You speak our language?" Palpatine said, surprised.

"I speak the universal language," the other responded. "You hear words your primitive brain is programmed to understand and you assume it is your primate-like dialect. The words I speak are known by all sentient life through the universe."

"Impressive," Palpatine said coldly. "Who are you?"

"I am General Zod," the leader said. "This is Ursa, and my quiet comrade here is Non. Who are you?"

"I am the Emperor of this galaxy," Palpatine said with a smile.

"Not for long," Zod said.

"You think so, do you?"

Three imperial guards stepped forward with oddly shaped weapons. Zod stared at them and laughed. The laughter stopped as three kryptonite-laced darts flew through the one-sided permeable field and into the chests of the three. Each fell to their knees—Zod with an expression of disbelief.

"Your kind is not unknown in this galaxy," Palpatine said. "I have taken steps. The dart that punctured your skin is laced with a crystalline substance that is deadly to your kind. It has just implanted a nanodroid that even as we speak has secured itself to the lining of your heart. At my command, or upon my death or the death of key personnel under my command, the droid will inject a solution of distilled krypronite directly into your heart muscle. You will die instantly."

The field deactivated and Emperor Palpatine stepped directly in front of Zod. "Come, General Zod. Kneel before your Emperor. If you do so, I shall give you the son of Jor-El."

Zod looked up in shock at Palpatine. "How do you know that name?"

"My agents found a crystal fortress in a planet far from here. They learned many things of your world—including why you and your companions were imprisoned in that remarkable dimensional gate. I also learned of Krypton's last son, Kal-El. He lives and has joined the enemies of the Empire. Serve me, and not only shall you know riches beyond your imagining, but you shall have your revenge!"

Zod ground his teeth as he stared at his two comrades. Ursa, dark and beautiful, averted her eyes. Non merely shrugged. "So be it," Zod said as he bowed his head. "I shall serve you, Emperor."

"Good," Palpatine said with a dry cackle as he clapped his pale hands together. "Good."

~~Empire~~

~~Empire~~

Newly promoted General Han Solo stared down at his insignia with a dark expression as he stood on the observation deck of the Alliance star cruiser _Liberty_ while the last elements of the rebel fleet converged for their final rendezvous. It was dangerous bringing this many ships together, but after the defeat at Hoth the leadership wanted to lick their wounds and get a general headcount before dispersing again.

The new Alliance commander of the fighter wings frankly didn't care. He thought back to his conversation with Admiral Ackbar ten minutes before.

"Solo, the Princess means a lot to the Alliance as well," the Mon Calamari had said. "Her father was one of the founding members of the Alliance and she is personally a very close friend of mine. But I ask you, would she honestly want you to endanger the fleet or the lives of our soldiers to rescue just one person, no matter how important?"

Han shrugged. "I don't care what she thinks. I care about her being able to think it here, and not there, wherever there is."

"General, I'm sorry, but your request to organize a rescue mission is denied."

Now, staring down at the insignia, Han realized he was going to go anyway, consequences be damned. He loved that woman, and he was not going to just stand there and let anyone hurt her.

Never.

He spun around when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Kale standing beside him. The youth looked…grown up. All vestiges of baby fat that made all the women in the fleet dote on him were gone, leaving a strong chin, high cheeks and piercing blue eyes.

This was not the kid Han had known just three years before. "Kale. It's good to see you again."

"And you, my friend," Kale said as he pulled a not quite reluctant Solo into a one-armed hug. "I heard about Leia. When are we going after her?"

"We're not," Solo said. "High Command's orders. We can't risk endangering the fleet for just one person."

Kale nodded with unusual wisdom. "I understand. So when are we going?"

"As soon as the _Falcon_ is finished."

"The _Falcon?_"

"My new command platform. It's a very supped-up YT-1300 freighter. By the time I'm done with it, it'll have the fire-power of a corvette."

"When should that be?"

"Tomorrow, at the latest."

The door to the observation lounge opened again and Winter walked in. Like Kale, she appeared to have changed as a result of their trip. She looked…sad. Solo glanced from Kale's determined expression to her sad one, and realized what must have happened. "So, did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kale said softly.

In Winter's eyes, Solo saw the opposite. "So, you and me, kid?"

"And me," Winter said. "You'll need a good slicer."

"And Ors and Katarn," Kale added. "Kyle's been to Coruscant before. He can sneak into any place, from what I understand."

"And Calrissian said he would tag along for the fun of it," Han said. "So, six against the Empire."

"Sounds like good odds," Kale said with a smile.

"Yeah. We'll see."

The next morning, Admiral Ackbar climbed out of his meditation pool and quickly dressed when he heard the sound of his door chimes. He answered and saw a young human fleetman standing at attention. "Admiral, Sir! Compliments of General Solo, Sir!" The enlisted man handed over a small package and saluted. Ackbar absently dismissed the ensign as he opened the envelope.

Inside were two general insignia clusters. "Solo, you foolish human," the admiral said. A moment later, he added, "May the Force be with you. Bring her back safe to us."

End Part II


	20. Part III: In Darkest Despair

**Part III: The Last Son of Krypton**

_One Year Later_

**Chapter Twenty: In Darkest Despair**

This is the life of Mara Jade.

At age 5 Mara speaks five languages and can hit the bull's eye with her training rifle five out of eight shots from a hundred meters. She can dance Corazal ballet like a trained professional. The Emperor frequently praises her cleverness and tells her, "You are very special to me, Mara Jade."

Little Mara beams with pride under the praise. Her many tutors observe those occasions are among the only times the little orphan smiles.

At age eleven, Mara holds a training lightsaber for the first time and practices basic sparring under the tutelage of Darth Vader himself. The Emperor frequently watches these sparring matches, laughing in delight every time the young Mara loses her temper and lashes out ineffectually against the armored Dark Lord. "Your anger makes you strong," Vader tells her. "But it also makes you reckless."

"In time," the Emperor adds, "the recklessness will fade, and only the anger and power will remain. When that day comes, you will be my Hand."

At age sixteen Mara's master, the man who has acted as the only father figure in her life, sends her to the bed chamber of a grand moff. She is afraid for the first time in her life, but obeys her master as she lays with the fat, drooling animal of a man. He is brutal, but she is ordered not to resist or fight even when he hurts her; her master has ordered her to give herself to him.

That night after she returns to her quarters in the palace, for the first time she can remember, she cries herself to sleep. She awakens some time later to find the Emperor sitting on the edge of her bed, his hand resting on her shoulder. "That was difficult, wasn't it, my child?" he asks gently.

She feels moisture in her eyes and nods. "It was."

"But you did it anyway."

"It was your command."

He leans over and brushes her forehead with dry, feathery lips. Where others see the pale, withered face of evil, she sees the face of the only man to have ever shown her kindness. "Never again shall you have to do that. I had to be sure."

"Sure?"

"That you would obey my every command, no matter how painful."

"I will always obey you," she tells him in a rush of almost uncontrollable emotion. In anyone else, it would be the love of a daughter for her father. "You are my master."

He reaches into his robes and removes a silver and black cylinder. "Then obey me now, my child. Kill the man who hurt you, and when you return, you will be my Hand."

Early the next morning, hours before the dayshift enters the palace to begin their daily routine, Mara Jade kneels before her master, her hands and arms coated in blood to her elbows.

The Emperor stands from his throne and steps down the dais until he looms before her, and places his hand on her head. "I bond you to me, Mara Jade. You shall hear my voice anywhere in this galaxy you may go. You shall be my Hand, the executor of my will through this empire. This is what you were raised to be, and you shall excel. Rise, my Hand, and take your place by my side."

Mara feels such pride her heart thuds painfully and she fights to be strong and show no tears. "I shall always serve you, Master," she says.

At age eighteen, Mara Jade walks through the halls of a public secondary school on Naboo toward a clumsy and yet breathtakingly handsome young man who may or may not be associating with a known Jedi terrorist. "Good afternoon," the boy's less handsome but more confident friend says. "My name is Darde Hollistan. This blushing young man is Kale Naberrie. You must be Arica."

Mara smiles her most alluring smile—one she has used to disarm enemies and victims alike before striking them down. "I am. It's nice to meet you, Darde." She turns the full force of her allure on Kale. She knows she is beautiful—the Emperor would never have chosen her if she were not. Men have been staring at her with longing since she was fourteen. But Kale's look is not one just of longing, but of genuine, innocent admiration.

"And you too, Kale," she tells him.

His larynx bobs as he swallows compulsively. It is endearing. "Uh, thank you."

The next day, at the monument to Queen Amidala, he looks at her with open, frank honesty as he says: "You are so beautiful." There is no wantonness there. No leering expectations. His expression—his piercing blue eyes—are innocent to the world. She kisses him and for a brief moment, as she closes her eyes, she allows herself to forget why she is there, and who she serves. Until, that is, she senses a familiar presence, and a voice of warning. _Never forget, my Hand_, the voice whispers to her.

She leaves then, feigning an appointment with her "father", who in truth is the newly appointed governor whose orders are to comply with hers and Lord Vader's wishes. As she returns to their command base at the Imperial embassy near the palace, Vader himself awaits her. "Kenobi has been spotted near the Naberrie home," the Dark Lord says. "We shall move tomorrow."

The next day after the secondary school session is finished, she stands in an Imperial communications station with Kale flat on the ground looking up at her in confusion. Her orders are clear—the entire Naberrie family is to be terminated because of its relationship with the Jedi terrorist, Obi-Wan Kenobi. "I really am sorry, Kale," she says as she holds a blaster to his head.

He looks up at her in fear and betrayal. Worse, she sees understanding, as if he somehow knows she is not acting of her own free will. "I believe you," he whispers, and inside Mara, something breaks. She could not have described the pain she feels if her life depended on it, and is not even sure what breaks, but only that something within her is not as strong as it was before.

She fires on her target as she has done so many times in the past. Twice in the chest, once in the head. He lies still on the floor as wisps of steam rise from his forehead and chest.

If she had looked closely, she would have noticed the lack of actual blaster holes in his body. She does not look, though. She closes her eyes and feels his lips on hers as the symphony of a Naboo waterfall plays in the back of her mind. She realizes that she has just killed a boy who could have loved her as thoroughly, and perhaps even better, than her Master—and she has killed him.

A sob escapes her lips despite her best efforts at control, but one sob only. She forces herself straight and wipes the single tear from her cheek. She will not allow herself to mourn what could have been.

Three years later, atop a tower thrumming with the power of the Force, Mara touches the cheeks of the boy she thought she killed on Naboo. "So perfect," she whispers, her heart bleeding with the love she has for him, while her mind rebels at the duty she holds to her master. "I do love you, Kale. Be it my death, I do love you. But I can't join you. I'm sorry."

"I understand," he says to her, just like he said three years before. Now, like then, she knows he really does understand, and somehow, now, like then, he looks on her without judgment, but only open love. "Will he let you back?" he asks.

She knows that the bond she and her Master shared for so many years has been severed by the power of the Force in the Valley of the Jedi, and that it cannot be rejoined. "I don't know," she lies. "But I have to return to his side. I have to." Inside, she is praying to the gods: _Please let him stop me. Please let him hold me. Please let him take me away_.

Kale's eyes are rich with moisture. "I won't stop you."

She howls inside with pain, but shields it as best she can. She wants to be with him. She cannot be.

Days later, as she kneels before the Emperor, his voice burns every pore of her being. "You disappointed me, my Child," he tells her. "I have lost your sense in my mind. But my spies tell me you failed in your mission."

She bows her head low enough for her lank red hair to brush the smooth black tile of the throne room floor. "I failed, My Master," she says for the first time in her life.

Then come the words she never thought possible—words she did not even believe at first. "You are no longer my Hand, Mara Jade," he says.

She looks up as her soul dies. He is staring at her coldly. The whole twenty-one years of her life are summarized in the cold, judging gaze of the Emperor. "I will find some chore more fitting your lesser abilities here at the palace," he says.

The firestorm of Force lightning is nothing compared to the pain of being stripped of her role in the universe. It is more than her job; it is the only identity she has ever known. It is her life, and with six words, the Emperor has taken it all away from her.

This is the life of Mara Jade.

Mara wakes to the sound of the alarm. She does not get up immediately, but rather stays on her stiff cot and covers her face with her left hand. Finally, using the stump of her right arm, she sits up.

She walks across her small, one-room suite to the fresher in the far corner. The sonic shower cleans her without refreshing her. She steps from the stall to find, on the edge of her sink, a black metal mesh. She lifts mesh with her left hand and carefully fits it into its connector cuff on her right wrist. She flexes the five metal appendages—a definite advantage over the two-pronged pincer that was her first artificial appendage, but still a far cry from a true synthetic hand. Having five fingers better enables her to serve the Empire in her new capacity. Having a fully artificial hand with synthflesh does not serve the Empire.

She stares at herself in the mirror. Her face is pale and thin, her eyes large and dour now. She has not smiled in a year, either in pleasure or threat. She is still beautiful, she likes to think, but a small part of her wonders. She is twenty-two years old, but feels much, much older.

She pulls on the plain black uniform of the palace security enforcement branch and straps on her stun baton. She is no longer licensed to carry a blaster, and has not touched such a weapon in the past year, nor has she seen a lightsaber in all that time. The construction of such a weapon was never a part of her lessons.

She moves into the hallways deep within the bowels of the Imperial Palace. Around her, the halls are thrumming with thousands of other lowly workers going about their appointed tasks.

Her task for this day is the same as yesterday, and all the yesterdays that followed that day when her life ended. She takes a lift to the sublevels of the palace and the holding cells located there. She makes her rounds through the narrow cells, checking to make sure none of the political or religious prisoners have died or tried harming themselves. She relieves the night watch with an expressionless nod, and he leaves with the same. There is no levity or emotion shared among the Imperial Security Enforcement Branch.

After doing her morning report summarizing her rounds, she steps from the control desk to the door of Cell 4356-AA212. Inside she sees a woman barely a year her senior, with brown hair cut short and eyes equally large and doleful. This woman also has not smiled in a year. More than that, though, she is being tortured on a daily basis.

Mara knows that sometimes the torture is physical, sometimes emotional. She has seen Darth Vader stand in the open doorway for hours, not saying a word. That alone would drive most people insane.

Yet, somehow, the woman perseveres. Mara hates her. It is the only passion left in her. She hates Leia Organa Skywalker for having the strength to resist. She hates her for being willing to suffer for what she believes is right; she hates her for being right.

Somehow, Princess Leia senses the presence lingering behind the door and looks through the one-way viewing port into Mara's eyes, as if she can actually see her. Even though there is no way Leia could see her, Mara turns away and flees the stare, unable to bear it.

Thus begins another day in the life of Mara Jade.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The squadron of Y- and X-wing fighters pierced the atmosphere of Dubrillion with flares of super-heated plasma. The fires of atmospheric entry passed and the famed pilots of Red Squadron split into six groups of two ships each—one fighter and one bomber.

Instantly the turbolaser turrets of the first Imperial outpost began to explode. "Nice shooting, Red 6," Captain Tycho Celchu shouted as another tower exploded. "Do we have a reading yet on that superlaser?"

"Roger, Red Leader," Derek Klivian's voice said from Red 8. "Thirty klicks northeast. We're coming up on it fast."

"Red Squadron, form up and prepare to engage," Celchu said.

"Fighters, high sector twelve!" Red 3 called out.

From the clouds of the otherwise lush planet Celchu saw what had to be an entire wing of TIE fighters bearing down on them. "I'm counting at least 70 fighters!" Red 9 called.

"Green and Blue Squadrons," Celchu said calmly, "do you read?"

"This is Green Leader, we read. Keep your helmets on, Reds, we're on our way." Twenty-four A-wing fighters zoomed overhead toward the approaching TIEs. Immediately, flashes of light began to burn across the skies as the fighters engaged.

"Be alert, a few of those TIEs are bound to slip through," Celchu warned.

By a few, he meant close to twenty. The six X-wings of Red Squadron, the famed defenders of Yavin, left their escorts to engage the enemy fighters. Celchu, a former TIE pilot himself, knew exactly where to shoot to make the most of his energy. Unshielded TIEs began exploding in rapid succession around him.

"Red 10 is down," a voice called.

"This is Red 8, I'm hit."

"Pull out, Hobbie. We'll call if we need you," Celchu ordered.

The chatter continued as, with surgical precision, the four remaining X-wings of Red Squadron finished off twenty TIE-fighters. Red Squadron was comprised of the Best of the Best, and they proved it daily. Further above them, the A-wings were also making quick work of the remaining fighters.

"Red Squadron, reform," Celchu ordered. "We're approaching the target."

Ahead they saw the island facility that housed a superlaser that even now fired toward the trapped Rebel Convoy in orbit. Although not as powerful as the Death Star superlaser, the weapon was more than sufficient to destroy a capital ship.

The Y-wing bombers activated their ground targeting systems while their X-wing partners flew off each bomber's left engine nacelle, ready for action.

"What in the Force is that?" Red 3 called from one of the Y-wings.

Celchu checked his scanners then looked out his window. He saw what looked like three human beings floating unaided in the air directly in front of the facility. All wore dark clothes, and at least one of them looked like a woman—a very pretty woman.

"Guys," Celchu said. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this."

"This is Red 2," Klivian said. "Red Leader, those guys are flying just like Naberrie!"

Tycho nodded to himself, though none could see it. "That's why I'm getting a bad feeling about this," he said.

Suddenly the three floating figures burst into action. The largest one flew directly into the path of Red 5's Y-wing. Somehow, he caught the nose of the ship and, defying all laws of physics, brought the 200 ton bomber to a complete halt. The abrupt loss of momentum ripped the engine blocks from their mounting and shot both jets streaming into the water below.

The pilot, both shoulders shattered and likely already dead, never felt the crushing blow of the fist that broke the cockpit in half and sent the remnants of the ship falling below.

The other two aliens repeated similar feats of ungodly strength on two more bombers.

"Red Leader, what do we do?"

"Green and Blue Squadrons, we need some help!" Celchu called.

"Already on it, Red Leader," Blue Leader said.

The woman with the luscious curves and black hair seemed to sense the attack before she saw it. As the first of the A-wings flew at her, she rose to meet it and swung what looked like a dainty fist that plowed through the center of Blue Leader's fighter. The whole ship exploded into a ball of flame. When momentum carried the remnants of the fireball past her, she remained unscathed.

Remembering what Kale Naberrie was able to do single-handedly against the Imperial assault on Hoth, Tycho knew they had no hope of defeating three similar beings, nor of even getting close to their target.

"All ships retreat," he said. "Inform the convoy of our situation and advise them to retreat as best they can. We need to get this information to Colonel Antilles!"

"We're running from these things?" Red 12 said, shortly before the wings of her X-wing fighter were ripped off by one of the trio of aliens and her hull slammed into the rocks of the Imperial's island.

"Yes," Tycho said sadly. "We're retreating."

Of the thirty-six fighters and bombers involved in the battle of Dubrillion, only eight returned to the convoy. Of the two corvettes, one Mon Calamari Star Cruiser and three GR-75 medium transports in the convoy itself, only one of the corvettes escaped the superlaser. Over seven thousand Alliance personnel were lost, as were valuable parts and medical supplies. It was an unmitigated disaster for the Alliance.

Two weeks later, a single star destroyer emerged over the planet Arbre. The Alliance, nervous because of the shellacking they received at Dubrillion, was already in the process of evacuating the base when the ship arrived. Mon Mothma and the rest of the Advisory Council were safely away, but the base still held significant materiel and personnel.

The three alien beings now known among the Rebels as Palpatine's Pets soared unaided through the atmosphere of the planet and descended on the partially collapsed rebel base with terrible ferocity. Ships weighing 1,000 metric tons were lifted into the air and tossed about like so many toys as Alliance soldiers fired as best they could on the three intruders.

The intruders shrugged the blaster bolts off and killed the soldiers with beams of lasers from their eyes, or by dropping pre-fab housing units on them. It was utter, complete slaughter the likes of which the Rebellion had not seen since the Dark Trooper project.

When the Alliance learned of the scope of their losses, Mon Mothma could only say one thing: "Where is Kale Naberrie?"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Want some Death Sticks?" the Balosar slythmonger said. Around them, the venerable Outlander Club hummed with voices and games, much as it had for half a century.

Kale Naberrie looked at the middle-aged Balosar with narrowed eyes. "Those things are illegal."

"Yeah. Want some? Twenty credits each."

"You don't want to sell me any death sticks."

The Balosar blinked and said: "I don't want to sell you any death sticks."

"You do want to go home and rethink your life."

"I want to go home and rethink my life, again," the Balosar said. He stood and walked away with a sad shake of his head, leaving Kale alone at the bar.

The place was dark, crowded and smoky. The putrid air smelled of cheap alcohol, more drugs than Kyle wanted to think about, sweat and possibly urine, depending on the species that produced it.

"Want a drink?" a handsome man said from Kale's other side.

"I don't swing that way," Kale said.

The newcomer smiled, flashing teeth so flawlessly white the whole place lit up. "Neither do I, my young friend." He slapped Kale on the shoulder. "How goes it?"

"As good as can be, Lando," Kale said. He had met Calrissian for the first time as they boarded the _Millennium Falcon_ to begin their search for Leia. It did not take long for their path to lead them to Imperial Center. "Han is still in Invisec."

Lando shook his head. "Don't know what he hopes to find there. Non-humans aren't generally allowed in the palace. My luck, however, has been much better. I found the name of the dayshift monitor for Leia's cell."

"Who?"

"Mara Jade."

Kale reared back as if struck. "Mara is a dayshift monitor for a prison?"

"For about 10 months now," Calrissian said. "Do you know her?"

"She is one of the Emperor's top agents."

"I'd say 'was'," Calrissian said. "Anyway, she lives in the palace itself, but she gets one day a week off and generally makes her way here for drinks."

"Is that why you wanted to meet here?"

"Of course. Also, they have a pretty good sabacc game going." Kale nodded and sipped the drink. The alcohol had no affect on him, but even if it did, he knew better than to try and play sabacc with Lando.

Originally, he, Han, Lando, Winter, Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn thought about Kale just ripping his way through the palace to get to Leia, but then Jan pointed out that it did not take that much time to put a blaster bolt through someone's head. If they knew Kale was there for Leia, it would be likely they would be willing to kill her before they let her go.

So, they would use subtlety to get in, and only after Leia was safe would Kale break everything to make way for their escape. Still, it was hard to sneak into the most secure structure in the galaxy. Eventually, Kale knew they would succeed. And once they were in, he had no intention of leaving himself until the Empire's leader was destroyed.

This last goal he kept to himself, of course. It wasn't that Han or Lando wouldn't fully support him—they would, even if it meant getting themselves and Leia killed. He just wanted to be the only one in danger.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to have a better look around." Kale said.


	21. Part III: Saving Mara Jade

**Chapter Twenty-One: Saving Mara Jade**

When they brought the princess back that afternoon, the security team had to do so with a gurney. The young woman lay motionless with her eyes closed, one hand hanging off the side of the hover gurney and her hair frazzled and standing on end. When she watched them bring her in, Mara at first wondered if she were dead. But then she smelled the ozone, and realized the princess had been struck by the Emperor's wrath.

The two guards dumped her without ceremony and left without even a nod in Mara's direction. The cell door slid shut behind the princess.

Mara remembered her own taste of the Emperor's anger last year. Force lightning caused more than just physical pain—it was an attack on one's very soul. With a sigh at her own stupidity, Mara went to the snack dispenser down the hall in the personnel break room and ordered an electrolyte drink. When she returned to her station, she nudged the camera view just enough to create a safe path to the cell in question.

Leia had managed to crawl onto her cot and was lying on her side facing the wall when Mara came in. The former Hand sat on the floor opposite the princess and said nothing for the longest time.

It was Leia who spoke first, though she did not move, and her voice was thick with the mucus of tears and pain. "Are you here to gloat?"

"I'm in no more position to gloat than you are," Mara said. "I was the Emperor's Hand. Now I'm a prison guard."

"Kale should have killed you," Leia said in a dead tone.

"Yes. But then he wouldn't have been Kale, would he?"

With a grunt at the effort, Leia flopped on to her back. Her cheeks were ruddy and moistened. "Why won't you people just kill me?"

"The Emperor wants you to replace me," Mara said. "Vader wants his daughter."

Slowly the princess turned her head to look at Mara. "What do you want?"

Mara held up the black claw that was her hand and looked at it with a critical eye. "A better hand—maybe one with synthflesh. Maybe two days off every week instead of one?" She smiled. "To see sunlight and grass. Naboo was very beautiful. Maybe someday I can go back there, if He ever releases me. Now that I'm nothing, I find my needs are few."

She leaned forward and offered the cup.

"Poison?" Leia asked. It sounded as if the answer would not stop her from drinking.

"An electrolyte drink," Mara said. "It helps. Believe me."

Leia sat up with grunts of pain and reached with a trembling hand for the drink. "Will you get in trouble for being in here?"

"Probably."

Leia closed her eyes. "I'm not going to make it," she whispered. "I…I can't keep doing this. Master Yoda showed me how I can stop it. I can make it all stop."

"And then the last Jedi will be dead. Palpatine will still win."

"You mean 'Your Master?'"

"Yes, of course."

Leia finished the drink off and wiped her eyes with the base of her palm. "Thank you for the drink. It does help."

"You're welcome." Mara stood to leave.

"Wait," Leia said.

Mara paused and looked back.

"Did you ever…I mean, Kale was always so infatuated with you. I've always wondered why. There had to have been something for him to feel that way. Did you…"

"Kale is the reason I am nothing," Mara said without heat or malice. "Good bye." This time she did not stop as she stepped out of the room and allowed the door to close behind her.

She sat back at her desk and called up the list of Wanted Persons posted by the Imperial Security Bureau. At the very top of the list, where it had been for the past four years, was the face of Kale Naberrie, lifted from the Naboo public records.

The picture was an old one—he still had cheeks rounded with baby fat and that adorable blush that ran almost to his eyes.

The last time she saw him, the baby fat was gone, leaving a strong, lean face and powerful eyes. The boy had become a man, and when he kissed her in the Valley of the Jedi, it was not as a bumbling, endearing boy, but as a man offering her one last chance for happiness. Instead of happiness, she sat in the bowels of a dark palace staring at his picture and wondering what might have been.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

When her shift ended, Mara joined the line of other low- to mid-level workers authorized for their day off. Every one of them had to pass through three lines of intensive security before being released. Mara even had to detach her hand for a security scan before they gave it back to her. Originally, this embarrassed her, but now she simply didn't care.

The public mag-lev train took her to the nearest entertainment district, and in moment she lost herself wandering the crowded streets numbly, looking for anything to distract her from her life. As usual, she found nothing and instead walked into the Outlander Club. She looked briefly for Sleazebaggano the Slythmonger, knowing that torturing him for an hour would at least provide some escape, but strangely enough the Balosar was absent.

Instead, she found a stool at the bar and nodded at the barkeep. He knew her by sight, and a shot of straight Corellian whiskey was in her left hand before she could even snap her fingers. The bottle followed shortly after. Half an hour later a second bottle appeared to replace the first, which somehow had emptied.

She was three shots into the second bottle when a genteel voice said from beside her: "Ma'am, that's nothing but a headache in a bottle."

She turned and studied the interloper. He was a handsome man with a thin mustache, a smarmy smile and overly foppish clothes. Any man who wore shimmersilk worried Mara. There was no denying he was handsome, though. She sank her third shot and poured the fourth. "My head, my bottle," she said.

With no immediate cause to do otherwise, the man took the empty stool next to her. "Rough day?"

"Same as always," she said curtly. Shot five into the second bottle. She was beginning to feel warm again. "So, what do you want?"

"Conversation with a beautiful lady?" he said.

Mara snorted. "Yeah, well, good look finding one."

"You have a low opinion of yourself."

"You have a high one of yourself."

The man laughed. "As a matter of fact, I do. My name is Lando Calrissian, the Hero of the Battle of Tanaab."

Mara blinked and rubbed her eyes a bit before downing number six. "Thought I recognized you," she said. Her voice was perfectly clear, but her eyes were slightly shiny. "Wasn't much of a battle. The pirates were stupid and you had some stolen Conner nets that wouldn't have worked on anyone else. It was luck."

"Luck favors the bold."

"And the foolish."

"Are you feeling a bit foolish tonight?" Lando asked suavely.

She thought of Kale's lips on hers—of the past year spent alone in a room little better than a cell. "As a matter of fact, I am," she decided impulsively. She grabbed the bottle and took the remaining whiskey in a single draft. She slammed the bottle down and took Calrissian's arm. "Take me away from here, Mr. Carrisssissisia…what's your name?"

"Calrissian."

"Yeah. That."

She stood and her knees buckled. Lando gamely put a hand around her shoulders and helped her out of the bar. "You got a hovercar?" she asked.

"I do."

"Good. I hate trains."

They reached the lot where Calrissian's car waited. "Nissssssse," she whispered. "Wait for sec." She turned away and, leaning over the rail of the walkway to the endless depths of the city below, threw up her last meal. The vomit fell like a sickening rain out of sight into the shadows below.

She straightened and wiped her face. "Sorry."

"It's all right, sweetheart," Lando said. "But for both our sakes, take this mint."

Mara popped in her mouth and bit down: it was not a mint.

Even drunk, she was fast enough to hit the man with her artificial hand in the gut with strength enough to bring him on his knees. She spit the sedative out. "Gamorrean pig," she whispered.

She stumbled a little as she turned to leave. Another man blocked her way, a man wearing bloodstripes on his pants. "Solo?" she whispered, too confused to be stunned.

He grinned, and then decked her with a right punch. "That's for Leia," he said. It was the last thing Mara heard before she passed out.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Mara woke up surrounded by her enemies.

She rolled off her right side and the numb limb (they had removed her prosthetic hand, she noticed) and onto her back to stare at the circle of faces of those who wanted to kill her. Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors stood at the foot of the single bed. Jan had one arm on Kyle's shoulder and the other hooked protectively around his right arm; Mara noticed a lightsaber hanging from his belt.

Han Solo stood to her left with Winter right beside him. She honestly could not say who glared more fiercely of the two. She suspected their hatred for her was for different reasons.

To her right stood Lando Calrissian, the man who tricked her into leaving the bar. Everyone was there except the one she at once longed and dreaded to see. "Well," she said. "If you're going to kill me, might as well get started." She reached up with her left hand and placed it against her throbbing forehead. "Death would be a kindness to this hangover, and I'm obviously not in any condition to resist."

"I don't believe that for a second," Calrissian said as he held a hand to his stomach.

"Where is Leia?" Han Solo demanded. His voice carried more than just danger—it held a promise of death to anyone who harmed the princess.

She closed her eyes. "Cell 4356-AA212. In the palace."

"Is she okay?" The threat of danger in his voice shifted to a small spark of hope.

"No, she's not."

He hit her in the cheek with his fist before Winter grabbed him. "You'd better pray to whatever you worship that she gets out alive!" he shouted.

"This isn't going to help," Winter said. She glared back at Mara. "I want to hurt her too, Han, but this isn't going to help." The white-headed beauty looked at those around the bed and abruptly made up her mind. "Everyone out of the room. Let's give her a chance to recover. Then we talk."

With glares and dagger-stares and mumbled curses, the procession of enemies left and Mara found herself alone in what looked like a rented hostel room. It would have been simplicity to escape—she could see five routes right now, starting with the ceiling panels. For some reason, though, she had difficulty finding the motivation or strength to stand and act.

She felt a rush of wind and turned on her left side. Kale was there where just a moment before was empty air, floating horizontally just a few centimeters off the bed and staring intently at her. She did not scream in surprise. In fact, she felt no surprise at all. She felt a momentary flush of heat that was quickly lost to cold despair again.

"Hello," he said simply.

"Hello."

"I used to dream of lying in a bed watching you wake up," Kale told her wistfully. The younger Kale would have blushed furiously if he was even capable of saying something like that. But the grown Kale simply studied her face intently. He reached up and traced the line of her jaw.

"You've lost weight," he noted.

"It happens."

"Muscle weight."

"That happens too," she said. "Prison guards in political cell blocks don't need a lot of muscle."

Kale nodded as his body slowly came to rest on the bed itself, laying next to her. "What happened when you came back?"

She turned away from him and stared at the ceiling. "I was punished for failing."

"And yet you stay."

"I have nowhere else to go. He's the only family I have ever known."

Kale very gently touched her cheek and she turned her eyes back toward his. "Tell me about my cousin, Mara. Tell me about Leia."

Mara swallowed. "They're trying to break her," she told him. "They're trying to break her and turn her to the Dark Side. They torture her physically and mentally every day. This morning she said she didn't think she was going to make it. She talked about killing herself."

Kale moved a little closer, until she could smell his breath. It smelled of toothpaste and…beer? Had he been drinking? His next statement took her mind off his breath, though. "Mara, Leia would never admit something like that to a prison guard."

Mara became very still as she realized he was right. The Leia she abducted from Yavin four years before would never have admitted weakness in front of an enemy. "I…I went into her cell yesterday afternoon," she said. "I recognized the signs of Force lightning and…I don't know what I was doing."

"You were being compassionate," Kale said.

"I was not!" she said, as if insulted.

"It's not a bad thing."

"It's a weak thing!" She grunted as she forced herself to sit up. "It's something only a weak person would do!"

"I can break star destroyers in half," Kale pointed out as he too sat up. "But I would still help someone in need. And you helped her, didn't you? She needed someone to talk to, even if only for a moment, and you played that role for her."

"It doesn't matter," Mara said. She swung her legs over the bed. Her head throbbed from the previous night's drinking and Solo's right hook.

Suddenly Kale was there, his chest to her back, his legs hanging off the bed to either side of her. Two strong hands reached up and with surprising gentleness touched her temples. She felt the healing power of the Force flowing through his fingers, making the throbbing of her head recede.

This simple act of kindness was too much. She jumped to her feet and turned to face him. "Damn you, Kale Naberrie!" she yelled. "Damn you!" She held up her stump. "You did this to me. I was strong! I was my master's most treasured servant. And now because of you, I'm nothing! Nothing!"

"You were cold," Kale said as he also stood. He grabbed the stump of her arm by the metal receiving ring for her artificial hand without blinking. "You were a cold, broken slave." His understanding eyes suddenly flashed with anger. "You were not his servant, Mara! He did not love you. He did not cherish you. He used you until you weren't any good to him anymore, and then he threw you away like a broken toy. And yet you still stand there like an idiot and say I'm the bad guy?"

"How dare you!" she hissed.

"I dare because I love you," he said, still angry. "I won't lie to you, Mara. You may not like what I say, but you'll always know it was the truth. You were a twisted little plaything for a twisted, evil despot, and now that he doesn't want to play with you any more, you're nothing. You were going home with Lando, for star's sakes."

"What else was I supposed to do?" she screamed. "It's not like you were there!"

The silence that followed was shattering. Kale stared at her so hard she felt as if her soul were on fire. "I'm here now," he said.

"I'm not eighteen any more," Mara said, also quiet now. "I'm not the girl you thought you fell in love with."

"I'm not the boy who fell in love with that girl," he said.

"Kale…"

"Kiss me."

Her eyes stung; her stomach began to do loops; her lips were on his before she could even think to breathe. His hands pulled her close enough to feel the intense heat pouring off his body.

"Tell me you love me," Kale demanded.

"I love you," she sobbed, breathless. "Oh stars, I do."

His shirt was off. She resisted an impulse to cry that she only had one hand to feel his skin with. He had both his, however, and made quick work of her shirt and bra. "Tell me you want to be with me," he demanded.

She could barely breathe. "I really do," she said, her voice dropping into a whisper. "I wanted you to take me away in the Valley."

"Wanting is not enough," he said. He pulled her slacks off as she did the same to him. "Act. Show me you love me."

She melted into him, and she showed him. A lifetime of passion, and four years of pain and longing poured out of her in waves that would have made lesser men crumble. Kale accepted it all and more.

In the end, Mara lay on top of Kale, exhausted and covered in sweat. With her forehead against his broad, muscular chest, she was suddenly racked with such overwhelming grief she no longer had any hope to contain it. She slid off him onto the bed by his side, and with his arm around her shoulder, she sobbed like she did the last time she had lain with a man. She couldn't say when the storm passed. But when it did, Kale was still there, looking into her eyes with tears of his own. "Why are _you_ crying?" she demanded between sobs.

"It hurts me to see you hurt," he said. He reached over and pulled a tissue from the dispenser in the end table.

She sat up in lotus position on the bed and gave a respectable snort as she blew her nose. "I must look pathetic," she said.

"You are more beautiful than I have ever seen you," Kale said as he also pushed himself into a sitting position in front of her.

She stared at the earnestness in his eyes and felt a pull of emotion so strong it hurt. "You're pathetic too," she finally said.

"I know."

She couldn't help the smile that broke through her sobs. "This wasn't the type of torture I was expecting when I woke up," she finally admitted. "By the stars, Kale, why do you love me so much? Other than shooting you and helping Vader kill your family and hunt you across the galaxy, what have I done to deserve you?"

"The Emperor and Darth Vader killed them; you were nothing more than a weapon. And as for why—when you kissed me on Naboo," Kale said, "you loved me. You can deny it all you want, but I could feel it. I could hear it in your heartbeat. But then something happened, and you left. I didn't realize it at the time, but now I know it wasn't because of a scheduled dinner. You could have stayed with me all day as part of your assignment. Something happened."

"The Emperor contacted me. Through our link."

Kale nodded as he caressed her cheek. His fingers trailed down to her breast. "He couldn't stand the thought of you being happy on your own. Not even for a moment. Kryptonians love forever, Mara. For better or for worse, when you kissed me, I imprinted on you. You are the only woman I have ever desired."

She sighed, took his hand and held it against her chest. "It doesn't matter now, Kale. I'm nothing."

"You are something to me." He leaned forward until their lips touched. "Say the word, Mara, and I will take you away from here. Nothing could stop us."

Her lungs stopped working. It took conscious thought to draw air in again. "Kale…I…" She dropped her eyes from his, but then got distracted by the rest of him and so had to look at something less alluring. "What about Leia?"

He shrugged. "The others wanted to use you to help break her out. I can do that anyway. It'll cost more lives, but as long as they aren't involved I could probably save her."

"Maybe not," Mara warned. "Palpatine has a new weapon. I don't know what it is—security is tight. But he's already used it on the Rebellion twice. The rumor is its powerful enough to kill even you. If you went flying through the palace, he could use this weapon on you."

"Then I would die saving my cousin," Kale said. "But only after I've saved you. Say the word, Mara, and I will take you away from here. You'll never have to think about any of this again."

She fell forward until she leaned against him. Her hair hung like red feathers against the muscles of his bare thighs. He was so beautiful, so perfect. He was everything she had ever wanted, even before she knew what that was.

"I can't leave her there," Mara whispered. The admission shocked her—she hated Princess Leia. Didn't she? No, she envied her. She had envied that Leia was close to Kale. That Leia had a man who loved her and that she was known, respected and liked by all those around her. She envied that friendship and love. But she did not hate the Princess. Not since yesterday afternoon, when Leia confessed how close she was to breaking. "I'll help you," Mara said. She looked up to meet Kale's searching eyes. "I'll help you get her out. You have to let me help."

"I'll let you help, but on one condition," Kale said. "Afterward, when she's free, promise me that you will go with her and the others. Go with them and be safe."

"What about you?"

His expression shifted from love and compassion to one of predatory determination. "I have an appointment with the man who hurt you."

"Kale, he's more powerful than you realize."

"It doesn't matter," Kale said. Reaching out with his hands, he easily lifted her off the bed and deposited her back on his lap and looked up at her. "The only thing that matters to me is that the people I love are safe. That means you too. When we free Leia, you go with her, Han and the rest. Go with them and be safe. Promise me that, Mara. I need to know you'll be safe."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply as they began to make love again. "For you, I would do anything," she said.


	22. Part III: Saving Princess Leia

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Saving Princess Leia**

This is the life of Mara Jade.

Mara wakes to the sound of the alarm. She does not get up immediately, but rather stays on her stiff cot and rests her left hand on her breast. Her lips tingle from the previous day; she feels rested and restored for the first time in years.

Using the stump of her right arm, she sits up and walks across her small, one-room suite to the fresher in the far corner. The sonic shower cleans her quickly. She steps from the stall and stares at herself in the mirror as she fits the artificial hand onto its receiving collar around the stump of her wrist. She longs for a time when she gets a better prosthetic that lets her feel again. She wishes to touch things again—to touch him.

In the mirror, she sees color in her cheeks for the first time since she looked at herself in this mirror. She touches her cheeks, marveling at what she sees in her reflection. "Is this what happy looks like?" she whispers to herself.

She is twenty-two years old, and for the first time in years she feels beautiful again.

She pulls on the plain black uniform of the palace security enforcement branch and straps on her stun baton. With a last look at the Mara in the mirror, she turns and leaves the room. "Here I come, Princess," she whispers.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

This is the life of Leia Amidala Organa Skywalker.

She sits at the end of a polished black table perhaps two meters long. In the middle of the table is a Naboo white-crystal vase holding a light-pink Naboo orchid with a blush of red encircling the stamens. On the far side of the table sits the silent, menacing form of Darth Vader.

A plate sits on the table before her. On this plate a blumfruit muffin still steams from the oven, beside a canapé, two strips of thinly sliced nerfsteak cooked into bacon, and a glass of cold blue milk. It appears to be a delicious breakfast, but she has not touched it.

The only sound in the room is the mechanical _hooo-burrrr_ of her father's respirator. There are no windows. The light overhead illuminates a room the same color as Darth Vader's helmet. "Eat, my daughter," Vader says.

Leia sits with her hands in her lap, staring down at the plate. Her stomach grumbles audibly, but she does not move.

"Shall I order you something else?" he asks.

She says nothing.

"Such resistance is futile," Vader says. "We will provide nutrients intravenously if necessary. Eating gives you strength."

"Kale will come," Leia says. "When he does, he will finally destroy you and your Emperor."

"He will most certainly die," Vader says. "We know his secrets, now. We know his weaknesses. If he comes to rescue you, he will die. And you will watch."

"Did you make Mother watch when you slaughtered the Jedi younglings?"

Her plate flies from the table. Vader's mechanical hiss increases in tempo, but then slows. "You are very good at angering me, my daughter."

"Evidently it's not that hard." She stares into his mask. "You murdered thousands. Who were you angry at when you did that? Master Yoda told me about the crèches and the younglings. And the security footage he saw from the Temple when you murdered those children. What did they do to make you angry?"

"I have done things I am not proud of," Vader admits. "But the Jedi were a threat to the galaxy—to order. With their destruction I have returned peace to the galaxy."

"Tell that to the people of Toprawa. Or Tatooine." She suddenly slams her hands on the table. "Tell that to my real parents!"

She slides her hands from the table back to her lap and resumes her blank expression.

"Good," says the withered Emperor as he appears from behind what was, moments before, a solid black wall. He holds his pale hands clasped together as he walks. "Very good. You let your anger out, Princess. Don't you wish to make him suffer? To avenge the deaths of Bail and Breha Organa?"

"He's suffered enough," Leia says. "I want his suffering to end." She turns to the Emperor. "And I want you to end. But there is no point in wishing."

"Then stop wishing," the Emperor hisses, all trace of humor gone instantly. "Unleash your anger. You are nothing to me without it."

"Then I am nothing to you," Leia says.

"And I would have no reason to keep you alive," the Emperor points out coldly.

Vader turns and looks at the old man; the Emperor chooses not to notice. "You will join us, Princess. Even if we have to kill you in the process."

"You can kill me a thousand times," Leia says. "I would rather be dead than join two pathetic, miserable excuses for men like you and that…creature." She nodded at Vader.

"How droll," the Emperor says. He unclasps his hands as his fingers take on a faint blue glow. Leia closes her eyes and waits for her punishment.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

When the two guards brought her back to her cell, Leia could not feel her hands or feet and she had a terrible, cramping pain in her chest. The Emperor had almost killed her that time, and as the men lifted the hover gurney and dumped her onto the cold floor, she almost wished he had.

She could not keep doing this. If she had some glimmer of hope, she could resist. For a year she waited for Kale or Han to rescue her, but that hope grew dimmer with each day, until now she could not find it at all. The only constant was the pain. "I'm so sorry, Han," she whispered.

Her door opened and she braced herself for the sound of her father's breath, or the cackle of that twisted old man's laughter. When she felt the cold mechanical hand on her shoulder, she thought it was her father, but the voice which spoke surprised her.

"Leia, it's Mara."

Leia rolled onto her back and looked up at the woman. "You look different," she managed to whisper.

Mara held a plastic straw to her lips. "Drink this. All of it, if you can."

"Another electrolyte drink?"

"With a calcium plasmid and a stimulant," Mara said. "I know from personal experience what that Force lightning can do. You need to drink it and be strong."

Leia closed her eyes. "I can't."

Mara lifted the princess's hand to her cheek. Leia, surprised, opened her eyes as she felt a painful lump on the other woman's jaw. "Han did that to me, yesterday," Mara said. "They're waiting for you."

Leia felt tears in her eyes. "That's such a cruel thing to say," she whispered.

Mara leaned down and whispered into Leia's ears. "I love Kale," she said. "I will do anything for him. Including saving you."

Leia grasped what little of the Force she still could and sensed complete, open honesty from the other woman. "You and Kale?"

"They kidnapped me," Mara said with a smile and a shrug. "Han hit me. Kale loved me. If we can get you into the main palace, Kyle Katarn, Han, a man named Lando and Kale are all waiting for you. They're in fake Imperial Guard uniforms. We're going to get you out."

Leia put the straw to her lips and drank. She felt the stimulants rush through her body while the electrolytes helped balance the damage of the electrocution. She sat up and looked frankly at Mara. "The sad thing is," Leia said, "even if this is some kind of trick, it doesn't matter anymore. There's nothing left they can do to me."

"Believe me, princess, there is," Mara assured her. "I was the Emperor's prized Hand, and you would never believe what he did to me during my training." She helped Leia unsteadily to her feet. "I have the cameras turned away from the cell door. Go straight to the control station."

Leia nodded. The door opened and Mara stepped out first to make sure they were alone. Then she waived Leia to the control station.

"What next?"

"We wait."

"For who?"

"Your replacement. Hide under the desk, please."

Leia was too tired to ask. The two waited several minutes until an older woman walked in with a cart of food. Leia recognized the smell of the synthetic nutrient gel the prisoners were forced to eat.

"Hello, Tinra," Mara said.

The woman blinked in surprise. "Uh, hello… I'm sorry. I don't know your name."

"Sad, considering we've been working together for a year. Carry on."

With one last quizzical look at Mara, the food services clerk continued her job, sliding a plate of the brown goo through the receiving slits of each door. At last she came to the last cell in the block, nearest the guard station.

As she bent down to deliver the food, the door to Leia's cell opened. Tinra stood, an expression of confusion on her face, and noticed Mara just in time to receive a shock from the stun baton in her chest. Mara caught her before she fell and dragged her into the room. "Come on," she whispered to Leia. "You need to switch clothes."

"That woman's bigger than both of us combined."

Mara removed a clothes mender. "We'll take it in. Hurry!"

Slipping out of her prisoner dress was simplicity for the too-thin Jedi, but taking up the clothes of a woman twice her girth was another matter entirely. The clothes mender made the job easier, though, allowing them to cut away entire swathes of cloth and then reseal the ends back. Finally, Leia dressed.

"What about the ID?"

"You won't need to use it, just hang it from your belt."

Mara appraised the other woman. Even taken in, the clerk's clothes still hung loosely on Leia's frame. "First thing we do when we get out of this is stuff a nerf steak down your throat," Mara said.

"You should talk."

"Don't worry, I'll be eating one too."

"Will this work?"

"I hope to the Force it does," Mara said. "The Emperor has been nice to you compared to what he'll do to me if I'm caught. Did you know that he killed Bevel Lemelisk, the man responsible for the first Death Star's cooling vent, three or four times? He kept cloning him and transferring his consciousness to kill him again. You have no idea how evil he can be."

"You do, and you served him."

"He was the only family I had."

"What changed?"

"I have Kale now."

Leaving Tinra in the cell, Mara adjusted the cell monitor to show nothing but Tinra's hair, which was not so different than Leia's. "All right," she said. "Let's go."

They left the prison ward with Leia pushing the cart and moved with feigned calm to the nearest turbolift. "We're heading for a service level," Mara said. "It will have surface access since that's where they bring in food. If I can get you close enough, Kale can make sure we all get out in one piece."

The turbolift stopped and they stepped into a drab gray hall teeming with people in the same featureless gray clothes as Leia. There were enough black uniforms, however, that Mara did not stand out. The two walked at the same speed as those around them toward the nearest kitchen. Before they reached it, they left the cart in a corner and continued together toward the entrance to a large hangar. They managed to slip through without any notice.

Beyond the distant opening of the hangar they could see the overcast skies of Imperial Center. "We're almost there," Mara said. Then she saw the four Imperial Guards standing at attention near a _Lambda_-class shuttle. The rest of the hangar appeared to be empty.

"Don't run," Mara said warned Leia. "Walk calmly."

"You sound more nervous than me," Leia pointed out.

"I'm not nervous," Mara muttered. "I'm terrified."

The four Imperial Guards waited motionless until the two women were there. The front left guard said, "Are you all right, Leia?"

Not trusting herself to speak when she recognized, even through the filtering, Han's voice, she nodded. The six of them turned to board the shuttle.

Suddenly the entire shuttle seemed to implode on itself, collapsing like a crushed can with sufficient kinetic energy to knock all of them back. From the smoking wreckage a single figure walked. He was a thin man with black hair and a closely trimmed beard. He wore loose-fitting black clothes and moved with an arrogant swagger.

"Leaving so soon, are we?" he said.

"They would not be so rude," another voice said. Mara and Leia turned to see a sultry-looking woman with black hair to their right. To their left came yet another in the same style of clothing, also bearded but much larger than the other two.

From the rear, slowly walking down the steps, came Darth Vader and the Emperor himself. Fifty or more stormtroopers followed right behind him. He was cackling as he walked. "Very good," he said as he clapped his hands. "Very good. You performed exactly as I had hoped, my young Hand," he said to Mara.

The men in the red uniforms turned to stare at her, but Mara could say nothing. Her eyes glimmered with rage, but there was nothing she could say—she had led Kale and the others into a trap.

The Emperor flicked his hand, and the helmets on the four red-robed figures flew off to reveal Kyle Katarn, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and Kale Naberrie.

"So we finally get to meet, young Naberrie," the Emperor said. "Or should I call you Kal-El?"

Mara saw Kale stiffen at the name.

"So this is the last son of Krypton?" the thin bearded man said; Kale turned to face him and the man nodded to himself. "Yes, I see Jor-El in you. You have your mother's eyes, but his face. Pity. She was much better looking."

"You must be Zod," Kale said.

"My reputation precedes me," Zod said.

Kale slowly looked the man up and down. "I thought you would be taller."

Zod's face burned crimson as his eyes exploded into twin beams of light that struck Kale square in the chest. Caught off guard, the young man flew backward against the floor. He quickly stood, however, and shrugged the now destroyed armor off to reveal the black suit he wore beneath.

"Is that the El family crest on your chest?" Zod said with disdain. "As if you have some claim to Kryptonian nobility? Your father tucked you into a ship and sent you away before condemning the whole lot of us to death. What claim do you have to your planet?"

Zod lashed out again with his laser vision. This time, Kale held up his hand and intercepted the energy. His hand briefly took on a white glow before Zod relented.

"I wonder if his little friends can do that?" the woman asked. Her eyes glowed as she shot a beam of light at Leia.

Mara stepped forward and held up her artificial hand. The durasteel appendage melted under the intense heat, but the beams never reached their target. Mara cried out in agony and fell to her knees, but the princess was unharmed.

"Do not harm her," Vader warned. The woman looked at the Sith lord with a contemptuous snarl.

"Ah, this must be your pathetic whelp, then," the woman said of Leia. "Very well, I won't hurt her. After all, she's harmless enough."

Leia smiled. "Are you sure?" A large piece of the destroyed shuttle levitated behind the princess. Even the Kryptonian appeared startled by the display as the piece of debris swooshed toward her. She knocked it down easily with one swipe of her hand, but appeared slightly less sure of herself.

"Ahh, the Jedi are so entertaining," Palpatine said. "Kill Naberrie. The rest are mine."

"Everyone move," Kale warned a second before three beings descended on him faster than the human eye could follow. Kale could follow the movements, though. He took the only path available—he went up. Zod, Ursa and Non struck each other with tectonic force, shaking the entire hangar as the three of them bounced off each other. Kale soared into the heights of the hanger.

The three other Kryptonians followed him into the air. "Impressive, Kal-El," Zod sneered. "It is nice to see this will be more entertaining than I feared."

"You have no idea," Kale said.

The broken hulk of the entire shuttle flew off the floor of the hangar with stunning speed and struck Zod over the head, driving him to the ground as a hydrospanner drives a screwbit.

The Emperor's smile dimmed. "Destroy them all," he hissed before turning to leave.

Mara watched him go with rage in her heart as the stormtroopers took position.

The shuttle suddenly flipped off Zod and slammed into the middle of the troopers' formation, killing half and sending the other half sprawling.

"That's our cue," Katarn roared. He pulled a green lightsaber from his belt and charged the Imperials.

Han Solo also pulled out a lightsaber, but tossed it to Leia. "Here you go, Sweetheart," he shouted. "Please don't cut anything off I'm going to want to kiss later."

The banter was short lived. Non dove at Kale and missed, but allowed Ursa an opening that she took vicious advantage of. She kicked Kale with one long leg and sent the younger man spinning into the floor. Nearby, Zod just then picked himself up. "You have abilities I did not think even we Kryptonians could have," he admitted. "But you are still one. And we are three."

Kale studied his three enemies. "I am just one, and you are three. But you are also idiots. The advantage is to me."

"Impudent whelp!" Zod howled.

The general's eyes flickered to Kale's right. Kale spun around as a green lightsaber slashed at the air where his head was a microsecond before. He caught the Darth Vader's wrist and pulled hard.

The Sith tumbled through the air, dropping his Kryptonite saber.

Zod took advantage of the distraction and was instantly on Kale even as Vader went flying. He flew into the younger man with both fists forward, striking Kale in the midriff. Kale's friends could hear the violent release of his breath even as he shot through the air like a meteor. He slammed into and through the interior wall of the hanger.

Ursa happened to look down and saw that Kyle Katarn, Han, Lando and Leia had dispatched the remaining stormtroopers. Mara was moving toward Vader. Ursa considered crushing the Emperor's former pet, but she had little interest in saving the pathetic, broken man that called himself Darth Vader. In fact, she was very interested in hurting him. If by hurting him she also accomplished the Emperor's commands, so much the better.

As Non and Zod beat Kale into the ground, she flashed across the hanger floor and stopped in front of the princess. Leia blinked in surprise and then swung her blade with greater speed than should have been possible for a human.

Even so, Ursa easily knocked the blade away and grasped the Princess by the throat. She lifted the woman up, marveling that the creature was so pale and weak. "Do not hurt her!" she heard the plaintive roar from Vader.

She ignored him and turned instead to see Non flying uncontrollably through the outer wall of the hangar. Zod jumped back as Kale regained his feet. Blood poured down the young man's lip and his right eye, proof of the sheer punishment he had taken. Kryptonians did not bleed easily under a yellow star.

"Kal-El," she called enticingly. "I have your beloved little princess. What do you think I should do with her?"

Kale started forward, eyes blazing. "Not too close," she warned. "I could break her neck before you could cover a third the distance. I am as fast as you."

"Your greatest weakness shows," Zod declared as Non flew back into the hangar to stand by his side. "Your love of these petty creatures makes you weak. I shall show you what strength really is."

Zod turned to Ursa and nodded. Leia paled and gasped as she hung onto Ursa's arm. The Kryptonian began to squeeze.

"Leia!" Han called. He shot, but the bolts bounced off. Kale blurred into motion, but Non intercepted him and the two fell to the ground, limbs flying.

"No!" Vader roared. His green lightsaber flew from where he had dropped it to his hand, and he quickly threw it.

The throw appeared wildly off and Ursa easily dismissed it as a threat. She turned back to the Princess and smiled. "You should not mind death," she said. "For you mortals it is merely a part of your life. Be glad I give this gift to you so soon."

Suddenly Ursa screamed. When a Kryptonian screamed, walls shook and stars trembled.

Leia fell stunned to the floor as the hand continued to hold her neck. She pulled and the hand came away, attached to an arm that had been severed at the shoulder. She looked up and saw the raven-haired beauty staring down at her own shoulder with her mouth open in now silent shock. Behind her, holding Darth Vader's saber in her left hand, stood Mara Jade.

"You shouldn't dismiss us mere mortals so fast," Mara hissed. She thrust the blade with expert precision.

Ursa held up a palm to block the blade. The Kryptonite-infused blade sliced through her hand and deep into her chest. Ursa gasped. "Ursa!" Zod howled. Even Non appeared stunned before Kale finally threw him off.

"I promised I would get her out," Mara hissed to the dying villain, "and I always keep my promises." She pulled the blade out, and remembering how Kale recovered from Darth Vader's blow a year ago, brought the blade up and around in a swift cut. The raven head fell to the floor like a metal ingot.

"You die!" Zod screamed. He launched into flight at near the speed of light. Mara had not even finished the swing when he was halfway to her.

Kale could not physically reach her, and she had no hope of defending herself. The Force was the only hope he had. He Force-pushed her as hard as he dared. She screamed as the push moved her slightly out of Zod's path, but still the toe of his boot clipped her right arm as he moved. That small touch was enough to shatter the bones in her arm, sending her spinning across the floor. Zod, stunned to miss, went straight through the wall.

Just then, a ship soared into the hanger. "About time, Jan!" Kyle shouted. "Everyone, get to the _Falcon_!"

"Han," Leia called. "Get Mara."

Kale nodded in appreciation. He had to stay and cover their retreat. Grumbling, Han lifted the now unconscious Mara and ran as fast as he could with her while Lando and Kyle helped cover their retreat with Leia a step ahead of them. Stormtroopers were now pouring into the hangar by the hundreds, but they were too far away to have a good shot at the fleeing prisoners.

"This is not over, Kal-El!" Zod screamed as he burst back into the hangar, sending huge boulders of permacrete flying. "I shall have my revenge!"

"Not today, Zod," Kale said as the _Falcon_ soared out of the hangar. Kale flew out after it.

The General should have pursued Kale. Instead, he moved to Ursa's side and knelt down. There was no blood—the effects of the Kryptonite in the laser sword instantly cauterized the wounds which, even in a dead Kryptonian's body, began healing over. The healing stopped when the life functions ended, leaving the severed ends scabbed over.

"You shall be avenged, my love," Zod whispered. Non came to stand by him, looking down at Ursa with a frown and his thick brow turned down. Zod stood suddenly and turned as Darth Vader began walking slowly toward them. His sword arm hung limply where Kale had pulled it free of its circuits.

"You!" Zod hissed. "You did this to her." He flew toward the Sith and grabbed him by his respirator plate, lifting him easily off the ground. "This is your doing!"

"I did nothing," Vader said. "I threw the sword as a warning. I could not know Jade would catch it and use it so effectively."

"I will crush you, you pathetic worm!" Zod howled.

He gasped, then, and dropped the Dark Lord while clutching at his own chest. After a moment, the pain eased. He turned to see Palpatine approaching them with a dark expression. "My apprentice is mine to punish," the Emperor said. "All have failed today. I have been planning this trap for a year, and you let Naberrie slip through your fingers. Was the boy right? Are you and your colleague too imbecilic to kill one young boy?"

Zod did not bother to hide his murderous rage. "Pray I never learn how to remove your devices, Emperor," Zod said. "If I ever do, your death will be the stuff of legends."

"I'm sure," Palpatine said dryly. He turned to Vader. "I was watching. I know, my apprentice."

A storm of lightning struck the already injured Sith Lord and sent him sprawling to the ground. "I know you threw that sword to Jade on purpose." He struck again, and Vader moaned. "I know you would betray this Empire to save your whelp." A third time.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" the Emperor finally demanded.

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, painfully pushed himself to his knees. "A moment of weakness, my master," he said. "Thank you for instructing me."

Palpatine's grin bore no humor. "Fail me again, Lord Vader, and you shall know the full power of the Dark Side!"

"Yes, my master."

The Emperor turned to Zod. "Come, General. We shall attend to your comrade, and I promise the full resources of the Empire will be dedicated to finding Kal-El, so that you can have your revenge."

After they left, Darth Vader remained kneeling. His respirator was shorting out and he barely was able to breath. His arm hung broken and useless at his side, weighing him down. He felt so very old.

_His daughter_. They were going to kill his daughter, his Leia. The only thing in the universe that he had to show for the love he had for his wife. Palpatine would easily have let those Kryptonian freaks kill her, just to destroy Naberrie.

"M'Lord?" a stormtrooper asked. "Are you in need of assistance?"

Vader looked up—the trooper's armor had been cracked along the chest plate and his helmet was off to reveal he was not one of the old clones, but a recruited human with a large gash bleeding freely over his eyes.

"We are both in need of assistance, it seems," Vader said. "What is your name?"

The soldier snapped to attention. "Solis Parata, Sir!"

"Trooper Parata, I would appreciate a hand."

The trooper offered a hand without pause, and Vader took it without comment. When at last he stood, he said, "See to your men, and then report to the infirmary," he said.

"Yes, M'lord."

Vader lumbered off as the injured trooper began picking up the pieces of his comrades. White armored bodies littered the hangar bay as those still mobile and those newly arrived moved through the chaos and destruction caused by four extra-galactic aliens that had no right to be there. It was, perhaps, the first time he had noticed the losses to the stormtrooper ranks in some time. Such a waste of resources, he thought. Such a waste of life.

It was a singularly un-Sith-like thought for the Sith Lord, but he did not stop to question it as he stumbled painfully toward the medical center.


	23. Part III: Mara

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Mara**

The _Millennium Falcon_ was a crowded ship as it made a series of quick, erratic jumps. The flight from Imperial Center had been frightening at best, but also astounding for those in the _Falcon_.

Kale was not only able to fly near them, he was able to outpace the _Falcon_ as he zoomed ahead to single-handedly destroy the squadrons of TIE fighters that came to intercept them.

"I can't even keep count any more," Han said from the pilot's seat. Jan, who moved over to the co-pilot's seat to make way for the general, could only nod. "What he did at Ruusan was amazing. But now…no wonder the Emperor was so terrified of him."

"Yeah," Kyle pointed out from the navigation station, "but now the old Sithbag has two of his own. Now we know what the Emperor's secret weapon is. Three Kryptonian maniacs. Well, two now."

Kale ripped through the bridge of an Imperial corvette hovering on the edge of the atmosphere. Faster than possible for any ship, he then flew across the _Falcon's_ bow and destroyed the gun placements of two of the defense platforms that were coming to bear on the small freighter.

"Punch it, full sublight," Han ordered.

Jan did so and the newly upgraded sublight engines kicked the _Falcon_ forward past a flight of TIEs and two gunboats that were angling for them. "We're almost clear," Jan said. To Kyle she said, "Let Kale know to come on in."

Kyle nodded and closed his eyes as he concentrated on the Force. A second later he nodded. "He's coming in. I'll go open the door."

He ran past the med station on his way to the airlock and caught a brief glimpse of Leia and Winter standing near the bed where Mara lay gasping in pain from her shattered arm. He did not stop.

When the airlock cycled and Kale stepped through, the young man was breathing hard. "I really could have used a breathing tank," he muttered between gasps. The whole ship shuddered as they made their first jump into hyperspace.

"We did it," Kyle said.

Kale grinned and held out a hand. "We did. Thank you."

"No problem. Thanks to you I'm a Jedi. Well, mostly."

"You know Leia will teach you."

"Yeah." He looked back over his shoulder to the narrow hall leading to the med bay and the cockpit. "Winter is in there with Mara."

Kale nodded.

"Are you going in there?"

"I'm not sure."

Kyle shrugged. "I wouldn't." The bearded man turned and walked back to the cockpit just as the _Falcon_ dropped out of lightspeed, recalculated its trajectory, and then jumped in a completely different direction. They would do it three or four more times before attempting to dock with the _Moldy Crow_ at Polis Massa.

With only a little effort, Kale could hear everything on the ship, including the women of his life talking in the med bay.

"She's out," Leia was saying.

"Too bad. She should feel the break." That was Winter.

"She got that break saving my life. And look at her wrist, Winter. Her prosthetic was melted into her bone. Again, saving my life. I know you're upset about her being here, but you can't deny what she did."

"It doesn't matter what she did today," Winter said. "What she did to Kale is unforgivable."

He heard the shuffling of fabric, and in his mind envisioned his cousin hugging Winter tightly. "Are you mad that she did those things to him, or that he _did_ forgive her?"

For the longest time, there was no sound. Then a quiet sniffle. Kale sat down when he realized Winter was crying. "She doesn't deserve him," Winter finally said, her voice strained. "She did not do anything to deserve him. I've been there from the day he came to us. I was his friend, his support. She tried to murder him again and again—she almost killed Kyle. And he made love to her!"

Leia said nothing, and another long period of silence came. The silence settled in Kale's mind. Winter was right, of course. She saved his life. She was his best friend outside of General Solo—in fact he was able to tell her things he could never tell Han. And there was no question that she was a beautiful woman. So why didn't he ever feel anything for her the way she felt it for him? The answer lay on the table in that room, moaning slightly in pain even through the sedative. From the moment Mara Jade kissed him on Naboo four years ago, his fate was sealed, and his love was locked. It still broke his heart to know how much he hurt his friend, though.

He felt a feathery touch on his mind. Over the past year, he had quickly applied all the lessons Yoda taught Leia while Kale was nearby, harnessing his new awareness and connection with the Force. This touch was yet another of the new abilities he was experimenting with.

_Winter does love you_, Leia sent to him through the Force. _But she'll recover. She's stronger than she knows, and there is someone special waiting for her._

_It's my fault she's hurt,_ Kale sent.

_You did not make her fall in love, Kale. I was there, remember? She fell in love with you because of who and what you are, not because you wanted her to. And because you are who and what you are, you will always be her friend and be happy for her when she does finally find the right person._

Kale allowed a smile as Leia's wisdom overcame his bout of self-pity. Moments later he caught a glimpse of the two women leaving the med bay for a nearby cabin. Taking advantage of the situation, Kale chose that moment to see how Mara was doing. He found her awake despite the sedation, staring at the ceiling; she had heard every word.

"She's right, you know," she said, somehow knowing that Kale had also overheard the conversation. "I really don't deserve you."

Kale smiled at her but said nothing. Instead, he studied the plasto-cast that was sprayed over Mara's shattered arm. He squinted and penetrated the cast and the arm itself with his unique vision until he could see the fragments of bone. The multiple compound fracture must have been excruciating, and required more than just a cast. Mara was likely going to need either reconstructive surgery, or she was going to lose the rest of her arm.

"I know it's bad," Mara said. "Leia knew too. She was shaking her head when she sprayed the cast on."

Focusing his concentration, Kale unleashed a super-thin beam of red light from his eyes that penetrated the cast but stopped just millimeters from her skin. When he had cut it enough, he gently pulled it apart.

"What are you doing?" Mara demanded.

"I'm going to reset the bones," he said.

"Kale..."

He leaned over and kissed her, then jabbed a single finger into her shoulder just below the collarbone.

"What…what did you do?" Mara asked in wonder.

"I've blocked the nerve cluster for your shoulder," he said. "Something my birth father taught me on Hoth, but that I only just recently realized. You don't want to feel what I'm about to do."

He sat down, and without touching her arm, began shifting the bone within her arm using the Force. "By the Force," she whispered, "I can see it moving."

The worst of the fractures had a shard of bone protruding through the skin just above her elbow. He moved that piece first, envisioning tweezers pulling the bone into the jigsaw puzzle that used to be her arm.

The hardest part of the whole operation was trying to determine what pieces went where. The damage was severe enough that some tiny fragments he simply could not identify. Those he removed through one of the two large cuts the bone had made in her skin. In the end, though, he assembled the fragments back into the semblance of an arm bone.

He leaned back, blinking in exhaustion. He was surprised to see Leia there, and Kyle. "We felt what you were doing," Leia said. "That was incredible. You've been at it for three hours."

"Three hours?" he said, surprised.

"Believe me, it's been three hours," Mara assured him. She looked pale and drawn. "What next?"

"I need a bone splicer," he said.

Leia reached behind her and searched until she found it. The splicer was actually nothing more than a vial of viscous white fluid attached to a very long needle.

"Where does that go?" Mara asked with wide eyes.

"Guess," Kale said. Though he was exhausted, his hands were steady as he pierced the skin of her arm. Using his x-ray vision, he placed the needle within the cavity of damaged flesh surrounding the assembled bone and pushed the fluid in. The organic molecular engines driving the splicer fluid quickly spread the healing agent over the entire limb and then immediately hardened.

"Now we redo the plasto-cast," Kale said. "The arm should be usable within the week."

"For what good it will do," Mara said wanly. She directed his eyes to the charred black mess that used to be her prosthetic hand.

"That has to come off," Kale said.

"I know."

"Better look away."

"Like Winter said," Mara told them, "I deserve the pain. Do it."

"No you don't," he said as he once again blocked her nerve cluster. She looked away as Kale used his heat vision to slice the damaged limb off. Without having to ask, Leia put a cauterizing cup on the stump.

When Kale let go, Mara gasped and sobbed as she sank back down onto the cot. Then she felt Kale's lips on hers. "Rest now, love. You're safe."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

They reached Polis Massa three days later. Rather than attempting to meet on the main colonized base of the asteroid belt, Jan Ors rendezvoused with _Moldy Crow_ on a small asteroid on the edge of the belt. They docked and she, Kyle and Lando Calrissian boarded the _Crow_.

"See you back at the fleet," Kyle said before leaving.

"I'll be there," Leia promised. As the hatch closed, Han reached his arms around her shoulders and hugged her from behind.

"Should I be jealous?" he asked.

"I promised to train him as a Jedi in return for his joining the Alliance formally," she said. "So, no."

"Good. I don't like having to fight people with lightsabers."

She turned in his embrace. After just three days of healthy food and happy company, her color had returned and her face looked more alive, though she was still terribly thin. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him. "Guess that means you'll never get to fight me, then."

"I said I don't like to, not that I wouldn't."

He looked up and around to make sure the others had left. When he knew they were alone, he leaned down and kissed her. "I love you," he said.

"I know," she smiled back. "And I love you. I knew you would come for me."

"I'm just sorry it took so long."

"So, General, what next?"

Han looked a little embarrassed. "Well, about that…"

"Spit it out, Solo," she said, not liking his tone.

"I had to resign my commission," he said. "They ordered us not to come after you. So we all quit."

Leia's jaw dropped. She was appalled, but she couldn't say exactly at what: that everyone she loved would so easily quit the Alliance her father died serving; or that the Alliance itself made those she loved choose between it and her. Then she realized something else. "You left it all behind for me?"

"Winter and Kale also both resigned," Han said. "Lando didn't care—he wasn't commissioned to begin with, he just hated Vader. And Jan and Kyle were mercenaries. But Winter and Kale and me—well, it was AWOL or not at all, so we left. You would have done the same. Right?"

The last was asked with almost a look of fear. "Don't doubt it for a second," she assured him. "Which means when we get back to the fleet, I'm going to have to have some strong words with Mon and Ackbar. If Jan Dodonna hadn't retired, this wouldn't have even been an issue."

"Well, you'll have your chance in a couple of days," Han said.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

_Home One_ was more than just the flagship of the Rebel Alliance. It was the capital of the Alliance itself, upon which the Alliance advisory committee often met when a long-term base was not established. Due to the crushing defeats at Arbra and Dubrillion, the thought of establishing a permanent base was unimaginable. In fact, with the exception of a surge of support following the destruction of the Death Star, the Alliance was almost at its lowest point since its initial few years in terms of finances and materials.

With morale at such a low point, even small victories had to be celebrated. When word came that Han Solo and Kale Naberrie had succeeded in rescuing Princess Leia from Imperial Center itself, right in front of the Emperor, the whole fleet became energized.

Half the personnel on the ship stood on the deck to meet them when the _Millennium Falcon_ flew into the spacious hanger bay of the Mon Calamari heavy cruiser. When the ramp lowered and Leia stepped out, still gaunt and tired-looking but with a happy smile on her face, the entire ship erupted in raucous cheers. Solo and Naberrie stepped out behind her and the cheers became even louder. Winter stepped out, followed finally by Mara Jade.

The tattered remnants of Red Squadron, now reorganized under the name Rogue Squadron at Colonel Wedge Antilles' suggestion, immediately recognized the beautiful red-head from Yavin from when she abducted Leia the first time.

Wedge himself was going to shout something when he saw Kale put his arm around the woman's waist, careful of the full-length cast covering her right arm. "I recognize that girl," Captain Tycho Celchu said to his commanding officer.

"You should," Wedge said. "That's Mara Jade. She's tried to kill Kale half a dozen times and was the one who kidnapped the princess at Yavin."

Tycho shook his head. "Not Mara Jade, Wedge. I've heard all about her. I'm talking about that beauty with the white hair!"

Wedge turned to stare at the second squadron commander and shook his head. "Tycho, you mean to tell me you're thinking about girls?"

"Not girls, Wedge. Just her."

Wedge sighed.

Mon Mothma, realizing political necessity when it presented itself, was at the head of the crowd with Admiral Ackbar and General Madine. She held out her arms for Leia, who tactfully accepted the hug. Amid the din, Leia whispered, "We're not going to make anything of _General_ Solo's and _Commander_ Naberrie's absences, are we?"

"Commander Naberrie?" Mon said with a genuine smile. "Leia, he's only 19 years old."

"He's a Jedi. He's faced Darth Vader and the Emperor himself, and now the Emperor's three pet Kryptonians."

"We'll discuss _Captain_ Naberrie's rank another time," Mon said with a wink. She turned her attention to Han as he joined her. She nodded to Solo, and then turned to Ackbar.

The admiral held out a webbed hand that held two general insignias. "I believe you felt it necessary to go without these during your undercover operation to rescue the princess."

Grinning, Han took them. "Yeah, that's it."

During the ruckus, the _Moldy Crow_ had also landed and its three passengers disembarked. Mon noticed them as well. "I can't wait for the debriefing on this mission," she said. "Shall we say 0900 hours tomorrow morning?"

It was barely 1800 hours, which essentially gave them the evening to recover, get settled in and have a good night's sleep. It was, Leia knew, a gift. "Thank you, Mon."

"Thank you. You've brought the Jedi back to us, Leia. You'll never understand how much that means to so many people. Now, rest, dear. As for Kale's companion, I do believe I recognize her…where is Kale?"

Leia closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. "He's taking Mara to the medical frigate. She suffered multiple severe injuries saving my life during our escape."

"I see. More for the debriefing tomorrow, I suppose."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Kale, this is insane," Mara said. "Why not just wait for a shuttle?"

"We don't have to," Kale assured her. He stood holding her cradled in his arms like a baby, as one of _Home One's_ many docking airlocks cycled through. "Things are different now. I'm not just a Kryptonian. I'm not just a Jedi. I am a Kryptonian Jedi."

"Kale!" Mara said urgently. "I know I deserve to die, but at least for saving Leia can't you find some other way to kill me!"

The outer hatch opened onto empty space. Nothing happened. There was no out-rushing of air, or the cold vacuum of space sucking at her eyeballs as she often dreamt of in her nightmares. In the distance, she could see the running lights of the medical frigate.

"I enclosed the atmosphere of the airlock in a Force bubble," Kale explained softly. "My own body heat will keep you warm. If I had the Force four years ago, my sister Pooja would still be alive." He floated off the gravity plating and then soared into open space.

Mara gasped and clung tightly around his neck as they left the protective embrace of the cruiser. "Gods," she whispered. Everywhere she looked she saw either endless, open space, or the ships of the assembled rebel fleet. Finally, she had to focus on Kale's face just to cling to her sanity. "You are a god, aren't you?"

"From what I understand," Kale said, still speaking softly as if in a holy place, "the Kryptonians were among the very first humanoid lifeforms in our galaxy. Our religion was based on a type of sun worship. Our sun-god was named Rao, and according to what my father told me, because of the hardness of our world, he made our bodies equally hard. But when he saw the beauty of his creation, he grew jealous, and with his red light held us all back from our full potential. In time, Rao destroyed the planet by going nova." His voice seemed abruptly loud when spoken, fading then instantly into the emptiness around them.

"That's why you weren't as strong on Ruusan," Mara said. "The red primary star."

Kale nodded. "I had to be weakened in order to become one with the Force. Do you remember any of that?"

"I remember feeling violated when the Force spirits left me," Mara said. "And I remember you, of course." She buried her head against his chest. "When I said no in the Valley, I was hoping you would ignore me and take me anyway."

"But then it would have been my choice," Kale said.

"And now it's mine."

"Yes."

Suddenly they were hovering before the atmospheric shielding of the medical frigate's small hangar bay. The bay was just large enough for the emergency shuttles it used to ferry patients about. Anything larger had to dock on the neck clamp between the fuselage and the front administrative and control area. The hangar crew gawked in surprise as Kale and Mara flew through the permeable shielding and set down gently on the deck.

"Let's go get your arm looked at," Kale said as he held her left hand and led her through the unfamiliar ship.


	24. Part III: Long Night Home

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Long Night Home**

2000 Hours.

Solo sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his reflection in the mirror. He had not put his uniform back on yet. Instead, he wore the same non-descript spacer vest, shirt and bloodstripe slacks he wore prior to joining the Imperial Navy.

He held a half-empty glass of Corellian whiskey, while on the bed stand behind him, the bottle sat still mostly full. He had eaten dinner with Leia, Kyle, Winter and Jan, and then Leia kissed him on the cheek, told everyone she was exhausted, and left the cafeteria for her quarters, freshly re-provisioned after her year-long absence.

He so much wanted to follow her. As he watched her leaving the cafeteria, he saw the others watching him. "Go with her," Kyle finally said.

"If she wanted me, she would have said so," Solo said.

"Idiot," Kyle summed up.

Now, two hours later, he was wishing he had gone after her. Hence, he sat on the edge of his bed with a glass of whiskey, wondering if he should go to the woman he loved or let her rest. "This is crazy," he finally said. "You either love her, or you don't. You either be with her, or not."

He tossed the whiskey into his fresher sink and started toward the door. When it slid open, Leia stood in the hall, her hand hovering over the call button. She was not wearing her Jedi robes, but instead an a loose auburn gown that hung to her heels.

"Leia," Han said. "I was just….I was…how are you?"

She looked up at him with a tired, wan smile. "Why didn't you come with me?" she asked.

"I figured you'd let me know if you wanted me."

"Then you're an idiot."

"That's the general consensus."

She reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard enough to send both reeling back into his room. The door closed behind them, and somehow, of its own accord, the lock switched on.

2114 Hours

Winter sat alone in the cafeteria of _Home One_ nursing a glass of…blue milk, actually. Winter disliked the alcohol available in the fleet. She was raised with fine Alderaanian wines and brandies, and found the coarser stuff available in the Alliance to be unpalatable.

She considered making an exception, though.

Winter had perfect holographic and audiographic memory. It was not something very many people knew about her, and it was often a source of frustration for her. Because, at odd times during the day, without any conscious will or desire, she would remember, as if there again, the first time she saw Kale. Not in space, but when she brought him aboard her shuttle; the way he cried for those he lost. The way his skin was warm to her touch even after almost an hour in vacuum.

She remembered the way he looked at her when he realized she was a friend. He was only fifteen, and yet he was so perfect; so beautiful. Even then, despite his youth, she wanted him. She could almost feel him, she wanted him so badly.

Now, he was with _her_. The one who tried to kill him. The one who kidnapped Leia at Yavin and almost had them killed on the Death Star. The thought brought tears of frustration to Winter's eyes and made her hands shake with rage and helplessness.

Suddenly a hand gently placed itself over her trembling one. She looked up, surprised, to see a handsome young captain with light blond hair and blue eyes that, though not quite as bright as Kale's, seemed much warmer for some reason. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She quickly pulled her hand away. "I'm fine, Captain…"

"Celchu. Captain Celchu."

She blinked and nodded. "Yes. You were at Dubrillion. I'm sorry for your losses."

He smiled wryly. "Hmmm. I was coming to offer you some support and comfort and you end up offering your condolences to me. Thanks, I suppose. You're Winter, aren't you?"

"I am. And it's late. Good night, Captain."

"Wait," Tycho said. "At least have a drink with me."

"I don't drink, Captain."

"Not even Alderaanian pink wine?"

She turned, surprised. "I thought I recognized your accent. Crevasse City?"

"Yes. And you're from Aldera, of course," Tycho said. "I remember seeing a holovid once about the Viceroy's family. You were in it, and Force help me if I didn't have a crush on you that my brothers teased me about it for weeks. I didn't realize it was you, though."

He reached into one of the many pockets of his flight suit and removed a long, slender bottle of rose-colored wine. "I know the Alliance doesn't serve anything drinkable, so I make sure to bring some on board once in a while. This bottle is aged twenty years. I've been saving it for a special occasion." He smiled and held out a hand. "Your joining me for a drink would definitely make it a special occasion."

"I'm sure you say that to all the ladies," Winter said, blushing a little in spite of her better judgment.

"Only an Alderaanian woman of proper upbringing could appreciate pink wine, m'lady," he said. "And aside from the Princess herself, there is no one else on this ship that qualifies."

She studied his earnest face and the welcoming hand. "It would be a shame to waste it," she admitted.

He held out a crooked arm for her, and she hesitantly took it. "Please do not think I go to just any man's cabin," she said. "And don't even think this means anything."

"I wouldn't dare," Tycho said, his eyes brimming with adoration.

2280 Hours

Too-Onebee poked a finger.

"I felt it," Mara said without wincing. The pain of a mild poke was nothing compared to having an arm shattered or being electrocuted by Force lightning.

"Excellent," the surgical droid said. It carefully replaced the flap of newly grown synthflesh over the internal servos of her new hand, and in moments Mara Jade stared at an intact hand matched in shape and skin tone to the arm it was attached to.

"Remarkable," she said. "Thank you."

"Of course," the droid said. "And I commend Jedi Naberrie for the work on your arm. That was a remarkable piece of healing worthy of even the great Jedi healers of the Old Republic. Granted, I could have done it faster, but nonetheless, a job well done."

With that the awkward surgical droid turned and lumbered away. The only other patient in the main medical wing was one of the few survivors from Arbra, who was still in a light coma.

"So what next, Super Jedi?" she asked.

Kale raised a brow. "Super Jedi?"

"Beats God Boy." She spoke with a straight face. "Or…or…oh, I know. Naboo Bombshell!"

"I guess Kale is out of the question?"

"Too boring," she said. The crease of her lips twitched. "No, we need something that will really instill awe in everyone around you. Maybe the _Fist of the Jedi_."

"Beats the _Foot of the Jedi_, I guess," Kale said.

"Or the _Ass_."

"Well, yes, there's that."

"How about _Super Man_?"

"Too pretentious," Kale said. "I wouldn't want to live up to a name like that."

"_Jedi Juggernaut_!" Mara said. The corners of her lips were now twitching with spasms as she fought a smile.

"With his trusty side kick,_ Thorny Rose_."

She gaped. "What kind of goofy name is _Thorny Rose_?"

"No worse than _Jedi Juggernaut_."

"You could always call yourself Kal-El."

Kale shook his head. "Kal-El is Kryptonian. I am a Jedi of this galaxy. My name is Kale Naberrie. And you're frightened."

"I am not."

He touched her forehead. "Get out of my head, Kale," she said.

"Sorry."

She sagged a little. "They're not just going to let me waltz into the Alliance, you know. I am a war criminal. A real one, not just an officer trying to defect."

"You are a high level agent of the Emperor himself who is willing to defect," Kale said. "Not only will they let you waltz in, they'll be thrilled to have you."

"Always the optimist."

"I never gave up on you, did I?"

She looked down at her new hand. "No, you didn't." She looked back up and forced a smile. "Well then, here's to hoping you're right and I'm wrong."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Although he had quarters within the Imperial Palace, while on Imperial Center Darth Vader preferred to stay at his separate residence on the shores of the Western Sea. It was a palace filled with droids, a few chosen Noghri bodyguards and absolutely nothing else.

Few dared disturb the Dark Lord. Unfortunately one of the few who did dare chose that day to do so. Vader sensed the presence and ordered his bodyguards to let the visitor enter.

The woman who entered wore a crimson Moff's uniform, but with the insignia of a civilian Director. Her long black hair hung over her shoulders, and the streaks of white hair gave her a look of exotic beauty from behind that was not entirely borne out from the front. Two eyes of startlingly different colors stared at him with no hint of respect or fear.

"Lord Vader," Ysanne Isard said as she stepped into Vader's personal chambers. "I trust you are fully recovered from recent events."

"What do you want, Isard?" Vader said.

The Director of Imperial Intelligence provided Vader a knowing and contemptuous smile as she made a show of walking around the circumference of his meditation room. She looked at the occasional artifacts and the collection of lightsabers hanging from one wall. "I was studying the security recordings from the service hangar bay at the palace. I must say, it was an exciting turn of events with Mara Jade and Kale Naberrie. And, of course, your daughter. You must be grateful that she is alive."

"What do you want, Isard?" Vader asked again.

"I want to understand why you threw your laser sword to a woman who had already betrayed the empire? The Emperor is very upset about the death of one of his pet Kryptonians. He is upset to the extent that if I leave dissatisfied, I will return at the head of a battalion to take you under arrest."

"Then do so," Vader said shortly. "In the meantime, leave me in peace. If the Emperor wishes my presence, he has only to summon me."

"Do not play games with me, Lord Vader!" Isard said. "I am part of the Emperor's inner circle. You are not, at least, not any more. Do not think to dust me off like you would a common lackey."

"You are uncommon only in the depths of your dishonesty and treachery," Vader said. "But you are still a lackey." He stood from his meditative couch and abruptly marched toward her. For a moment, one red and one blue eye widened in fear. "Leave now, Isard, or the Emperor will have to find a new lackey, common or otherwise."

"You wouldn't dare," she hissed.

Vader held out a hand and the Director of Intelligence gasped as she clutched desperately at her throat. "You are part of his inner circle. I am his apprentice. I am Sith. If you survive today, you may be lucky enough to understand what that means."

With a contemptuous fling of Vader's wrist, Ysanne Isard flew across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. Vader removed his lightsaber and let the red glow of its blade catch her attention. "Leave now on your own legs, or leave later without them."

With a sneer of hatred, she turned and fled the Dark Lord. When she was gone, Vader summoned one of his servants. The Noghri bowed. "Yes, Mal'ary."

"I have a message for you," Vader said. "You are to memorize it word for word and repeat it to none but your target. If you are intercepted, you must perish before the words are taken from your tongue."

"By your will, Mal'ary."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Mara paced the room with her new and old hands clasped tightly behind her back. When the door to her small cabin opened, she spun to see Kale staring down at her with a tired smile. "Should I even bother asking?" she asked.

"You've got a long series of debriefings ahead of you, but you're not facing any war crimes charges. Leia vouched for you to the rest of the council. Not only that, but we may have a job for you."

"A job?"

Kale nodded. He sat down on the bench and invited her to join him, which she did. "Han's spent the past year not just looking for Leia, but working with Lando to develop some smuggler contacts. He's also been spending a lot of time in Invisec on Imperial Center. He's drawn up a plan that could turn the tide in the war toward the Alliance."

"How?"

"By cutting off the head of the Empire," Kale said. "We're planning on killing Emperor Palpatine. And we're going to need your help to do it."

Hours later in a closed meeting with the Alliance leadership, Mara listened in stunned silence as the men and women of the Rebel Alliance laid out the plan and the reasoning behind it.

"You more than anyone understand the influence the Emperor has on his forces," Leia explained to Mara. "When I was in the palace I felt the Dark Side of the Force enveloping everything and everyone. I believe he uses a type of Force meditation to help Imperial forces in battle—it's why the Alliance has always had a difficult time with direct confrontations. Yavin was the only exception to date."

"So you think the Empire will collapse if you kill Palpatine?" Mara asked.

Han shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."

General Madine, an Imperial defector, was more logical in his thinking. "We don't believe the Empire will cease to exist upon the Emperor's death, but we do believe that it will have a compelling effect on Imperial forces and morale. The loss of his guidance in the Force and his decisions at the top of the command chain may be the break the Alliance has needed since Yavin and Toprawa."

"What about General Zod?" Mara asked.

"That will be my concern," Kale said from her side. He removed Vader's Kryptonite lightsaber from his belt and put it on the table. "Neither Zod nor his companion were any stronger than I was. I have the Force and now I have this. I don't think it will be easy, but I think I have a better chance against two than against three."

"And we have two other Jedi to help with the separate phases of the operation in Kyle and Leia," Han said. "It's going to be big. We're probably looking at a sizable commitment of men and materiel."

"I'll say," Mara said. "You're essentially going to try and invade Imperial Center."

"It's been done before," Leia pointed out.

"The Confederacy of Independent Systems was crushed when it attacked Coruscant. Its leadership was destroyed and its war machine broken in half."

"But they got to Palpatine," Han said.

Mara shook her head. "You really don't know, do you? I thought the Jedi found out at the end."

Leia looked first at Mara, then Han, Kale and General Madine. "Found out what?"

"Palpatine was the Confederacy—he personally planned the attack. He was the force behind Count Dooku and the CIS. The only reason General Grievous got to Palpatine was because the Emperor wanted him to as a way of precipitating Lord Vader's fall to the Dark Side while garnering further support in the Senate."

The four other people in the room stared at her with gaping jaws. "How can you possibly know that?" Leia finally demanded. "Yoda never said anything about that."

"I was the Emperor's Hand. While I was researching where to find Kryptonite I had complete access to the Emperor's data archives. It is in there. He created the Clone Wars as a means of staying in power and weakening the Jedi, and it worked brilliantly."

"Which just gives us all the more reason to pull this off," Han said. "Can you help us?"

Mara looked over at Kale, who took her hand reassuringly. "Yes," she said. "I can help. Tell me what you need."

"Everything you can tell us," Crix Madine said.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

A week later saw the plans taking definitive shape. A murmur of excitement began to run through the fleet as the Alliance tapped every resource it had and brought in every person it could. The fleet never stopped moving, either, for fear of being attacked before they could pull their mission off. With the sheer number of transports coming in, the possibility of spies had to be dealt with. There was more going on that week than just planning, though.

For Leia, it was a week unlike any she had ever experienced. After days of planning, troop and weapons allocation, and drills, she went back to her quarters and found Han waiting for her.

When she woke up the next morning, he was there, watching her, his lips turned in that crooked, adorably infuriating smile of his. It was better than caf in waking her up. It was incredible.

A small part of her mind questioned her happiness, though. Everyone she loved was dead, with the sole exception of Kale, who was alive only because he seemed to be nearly un-killable. She couldn't help but ask herself: _How can happiness this intense possibly last? _

That evening would be the first when Han wasn't waiting for her. He was with his new command drilling for the upcoming mission. They had converted a corvette into a training ground for that purpose.

She stepped inside, removed her comm and threw it on the table by the door before she sat on the edge of the bed, exhausted. She took a deep breath, centering herself and drawing on the Force as Yoda taught her. In the silence that followed, she became aware of a presence in her room that was not supposed to be there.

As fast as the Force allowed, she had her saber out and pointed at the chin of the intruder. The strange, diminutive creature fell to the floor, its head bowed and its clawed hands outstretched. "Your scent is strong in this room. You are the Mal'ary'ush!" the creature cried. "I bow before the Daughter of our savior!"

Somehow, Leia doubted it was referring to Bail Organa. "Who are you!" she asked.

"I am Tabarahk, Lady Vader," the creature said. "I bring a message from the Mal'ary. It was to be delivered to you only, and I was to die before any other heard it."

Leia backed up a step. "Speak your message."

"It is this," the rasping reptilian creature said. "'_She is not who she thinks she is_.'"

"That's it?"

"Yes, Lady Vader."

Leia felt her gorge rise. "Do not call me that."

"You are the Daughter of our Savior!" the creature said.

"Your savior is a vile and despicable creature," Leia said.

Just then the door opened and Han started in. The creature hissed in alarm and burst into motion faster than even Leia could follow. Rather than attack Han, however, Tabarahk pushed him aside and disappeared down the hall.

"What in the stars was that?" Han cried. He grabbed his comm. "Security, this is Solo. We have a security breach in the Princess's quarters. Reptilian biped, maybe one and a half meters."

"On it, general," a voice said.

Han turned to Leia. "Are you all right?"

She sat on the bed and look up at him with open self-loathing. "He had a message from Darth Vader. He called me Lady Vader!"

"Then he's an idiot," Han said quickly. Then he blinked as the heat left his face. "So what was the message?"

"He said 'She is not who she thinks she is.'"

Han cocked his head. "Huh," he said, thinking aloud. "Well, it's gotta be Mara he's talking about."

"I know."

"So do we tell Kale?"

"Tell him what? That Darth Vader sent me a message that his girlfriend is schizophrenic? We have no proof. Kale can touch the Force, Han. He can feel her emotions and probably even see into her mind. He seems to think she's sincere. Vader's word means a lot less than that."

Han sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "But we're going to keep an eye on her, right?"

"You better believe it," Leia said with conviction.


	25. Part III: Bloody Claws

A/N: The aliens referenced in this chapter, including their violent tendencies, are SW canon from the Black Fleet Crises, one of the better SW trilogy books.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Bloody Claws**

"You don't smell any different than the Imperials," Nil Spaar said with a sneer of contempt.

Han Solo shifted his feet and looked back at Leia before turning his attention back to the Yevethan. "Must be the aftershave."

Spaar did not appear amused.

"The difference is not in our appearance or smell, but in our purpose," Leia said quickly. "The Empire invaded your world and enslaved your people. They have done the same throughout the galaxy. We are fighting for justice and freedom. Our actions speak for us."

"Your actions say very little to me or my people," Nil Spaar said. "The Yevetha are still enslaved. Our soil is still profaned by the boots of humans. What you ask will only bring more reprisals. Our world will only suffer more."

They sat barefoot on small floor cushions in a small room atop a thin spire in Giat Nor, the capital of N'Zoth. One of Kyle Katarn's and Han Solo's smuggler contacts named Platt Okeefe managed to get Leia, Han, Kale and Mara onto the surface of the planet.

Across from them sat the leader of the slave labor pool that ran the Type-II orbital repair yards orbiting their world. The yard held at least one _Executor -_class star dreadnaught and six small star destroyers.

In the Force Nil Spaar thrummed with hatred—and his hatred was not constrained just to the Imperials. His hatred included the four seated in front of him now and possibly everyone else in the galaxy that was not Yevethan.

Leia trusted the being about as far as she could throw him without the Force. But he was the key to the first stage of their plan. She thought upon reading of the Yevethan subjugation that it would be easy to enlist his support. She never counted on the Yevethan xenophobia, however. "What can we do to earn your trust?" she asked.

"Die," Nil Spaar said, smiling gruesomely for the first time. "Your blood is useless, but such an act would show me you are serious. Shed the blood of one of your underlings for me. Prove to me you are worthy of aid from the Yevetha."

Leia blinked and paled as she studied the skeletal face of the being before her. His thin hard lips were curled back with contempt. The expression told her he fully expected her to leave in a huff, and that was his intended goal.

If she failed here, the Alliance would have to scuttle their plans. Black 15 was the least protected orbital ship yard the Empire had, and the proportion of slaves to Imperial personnel was the highest of anywhere. It had to be here, or not at all. She thought of the year spent under the Emperor's personal care, and realized failure was simply not an option.

She nodded abruptly in decision and held out her hand. Han's blaster flew from his holster to her waiting fingers. Without missing a beat she turned, pointed at a surprised Kale's chest and pulled the trigger.

Kale grunted and fell back to the floor, motionless. Mara rested a hand on his chest, a stunned expression on her face. "What do you think you're…." she started to say.

Leia turned and glared at her. At the same time, she slipped a quick look at Kale and then back at Mara, as if to say, _Who else could it have been?_

Mara lowered her eyes and then turned back to Kale, resting her hands on his chest and lowering her eyes below the line of her luxurious red hair to hide her face.

Leia turned back to Spaar. "Your ways are not ours, Nil Spaar. We care for and grieve for our dead. What you ask of us is worth many times more to us than such an act would mean to you. But our mission is too important to risk. I have shown you I am serious. What will you show me?"

Spaar clicked his teeth and two young male Yevethans ran into the room. As Spaar stood, the two males knelt down and lifted their heads to expose their necks. Leia steeled herself for what she suspected would come next. In the Force, she reached out to Han and Mara both.

The elder Yevethan unsheathed a foot-long blade of bone from each of his forearms just under his wrists. With a satisfied cluck of his tongue he slashed each blade without hesitation across the necks of the two young males.

"These nitakkas' blood shall feed the mara-nas of my females," Spaar said. Instantly two more males came from the same side door as the first and lifted the dead Yevethans away. With Leia's warning, Han managed to keep his face perfectly neutral.

"Then we are of agreement?" Leia asked, her face also perfectly neutral.

"We are," Spaar said. "But there is a price."

"Name it," Leia said.

"The Yevetha keep one of the ships."

Since their campaign projections foresaw the loss of at least one of the ships in the shipyard, this was acceptable. "Done," she said. "We must have the _Intimidator_ for our plan to succeed, but any one of the others is yours."

"We also wish to keep the Imperials."

Having just seen what Spaar was willing to do to his own, Leia shuddered to think what he would do to humans who had enslaved his people. But as she said before, this mission was so important. In a decision she knew she would come to regret, she nodded slowly. "Very well."

"Then we have agreement," Spaar said. "Leave now. In five days' time, all will be ready."

When the meeting was done, Han made a show of lifting the larger Kale onto his shoulder as if he weighed nothing, and they left in a closed ground car through the back of the spire. The closed car continued toward the small trading outpost kept under Imperial supervision.

By the time they got back to the smuggler ship, their pilot and a smuggler nearly as famous as Han Solo himself, Platt Okeefe, was getting nervous. "Did everything go okay?" she asked as they disembarked. Then she saw Kale over Han's shoulder and slowly pulled her light blonde hair back from her eyes. "What…?"

"I'll tell you when we're off the surface," Han said quickly.

Leia pushed past both of them. "I need a shower. I feel filthy."

The Yevethans who had driven them merely stood watching until all the humans were aboard and the ship boarding ramp retracted. They then returned to their posts. In the ship, as they started heading away from the planet surface, Kale finally sat up and rubbed the spot where Leia shot him. "That was quick thinking," he congratulated her.

Okeefe stared at the burn mark on Kale's shirt. "Must have been one heck of a performance."

"He's a real prodigy," Han said. To Kale, he said, "That was quick thinking too for you to play along so well. And were you making yourself lighter so I could carry you?"

Kale shrugged with a smile.

Leia ignored the exchange and shook her head. "It wasn't enough," she said. "I…I can't believe I just agreed to let those monsters take the Imperials. I've just condemned thousands of men and women to a gruesome death."

Surprisingly, it was Mara who sat beside her and rested a hand on her back. "They're going to have to die anyway, Leia, for this plan to work. It isn't enough just to steal the ships. We have to keep the Empire from knowing we stole the ships for as long as possible. Just putting them on the surface would not have ensured that."

"That's what I told myself when I agreed," the princess said. "But my soul tells me I am guilty of a terrible crime." She looked up at all of them, her mouth turned into a grimace. "This entire plan—Han, the Alliance has never acted like this before. We've never been so blasé about casualties before. We're going to be killing untold thousands. How are we any different from the Empire?"

Han sat on the other side from Mara and put a hand gently on her back as Mara removed hers. "We're at war, Leia, and you did what you had to do to ensure our side has a fighting chance. And our plan is a lot gentler than what Vader did to Aldera City, or Tarkin to Toprawa, so I don't buy this story that we're no better." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "But you know what? History can debate it later. For now, let's get back to the Taskforce."

Leia nodded. "There's one more problem, though."

"What's that?"

"I don't trust Spaar at all," she said. "The Force tells me he is going to betray us."

"It's whispered the same thing to us," Kale said with a quick, affirming glance at Mara.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The Empire had chosen to invade N'zoth for one reason—they wanted the Yevetha. The young species had proven to be highly intelligent, adaptable and resilient, qualities that made for excellent slaves. Like the Wookies, the Empire harnessed the greater physical strength and the significant mental abilities of the Yevetha as slave labor to man the ship yard for Black Sword Command, the Oversector authority for that region of space.

During the height of construction during the day, there were two Yevethans for every human onboard the six vessels. Granted, the Imperials had stormtroopers overseeing the slaves, but since the Yevethans had stopped fighting after Nil Spaar became the defacto leader of the slaves, security had relaxed a great deal.

The ships were down to a skeleton crew of engineers to oversee the construction or repairs of their ships and a few flag officers. The rest were ferried down to the Imperial outpost on the surface for some fresh air. The crown of the yard was the _Intimidator_, a newly constructed _Executor_-class ship still in its final finishing stages.

After the destruction of the Death Star, and with the threat of Kale Naberrie hanging over his head, the Emperor opted to increase production on the super star destroyers rather than build a new battle station. The new destroyers, although incredibly expensive, were still only a fraction of the cost of a Death Star.

Still, on that particular day, the _Intimidator_ had only a small skeleton crew of humans, but with thousands of Yevethans on board. It made things ridiculously easy. Nil Spaar himself was working near the reactor of the _Intimidator_ when he gave the signal.

"What do you think you're doing?" the engineering overseer said when Spaar set his tools down.

"Animal," Spaar snarled in Yevethan. He extended his dew claw, and with one quick slash had the human's throat open.

The flowing blood was the signal. The stormtroopers managed to get a few shots off, and many nitakka shed their blood for the battle, but in the end the pitiful Imperial guards were overthrown.

When they held engineering without any alarms being sounded, Spaar nodded in satisfaction. "Send the signal to the others," he ordered his underlings. "The Yevetha are no one's slaves!"

Across the nineteen-kilometer length of the _Executor_-class ship and the surrounding star destroyers, thousands of Yevethan slaves unsheathed their claws and turned on the Imperials. Casualties were higher in other parts of the _Intimidator_ and the surrounding ships, but in a society where murder could only be committed when an inferior killed a superior and life meant nothing, the loss of ten thousand Yevetha for the deaths of five thousand Imperials was more than satisfactory.

On the surface below, the trader and Imperial outposts were suddenly surrounded by hordes of hundreds of thousands of angry Yevethans as their internal power generators were disabled or completely destroyed through further sabotage. Shortly after the Yevethans gained control of the shipyards, the Rebel transports arrived, ten beetle-shaped ships with minimal weapons, crowded with thousand of filthy humans and aliens.

"Bring the turbolasers online," Spaar ordered. "The Yevetha serve no one."

"Yes, Darama," a young male said. The ship clanked as the turbolasers of the brand-new super star destroyer rotated to face the transports.

"Prepare to fire."

A voice crackled over the speakers. "Spaar, what are you doing?"

"What I should have done years ago," the Yevethan snarled. "I am ridding my world of the profanity of your presence."

"Darama!" a male said, falling to his knees by Spaar. "An object approaches from the rebel ships."

"Shoot it down."

"I tried, Darama."

"Arrghh," he growled in frustration. He struck the male's throat so hard he nearly took the creature's head off. "Someone destroy that object, and you shall be my second!"

All the Yevethans at the weapons control banks attempted to do as asked, but they had no hope. The object resolved itself right outside the transparisteel windows of the command deck itself. Spaar walked slowly toward the window and stared out with something that a lesser being might have described as fear.

He was staring at the one Princess Leia had shot. The creature floated un-aided in open space, staring through the window directly at Spaar. With a cold smile, the creature pulled back one fist and swung at the unbreakable transparisteel.

The transparisteel broke. It did not just break, it exploded inward over the Yevetha. Alarms sounded and an armored plate started to drop over the breach, but the strange creature caught the emergency plate in one hand and easily lifted it back up as he climbed inside the ship. Around the bridge small bits of debris and trash swirled about under the sudden vacuum, but that ended abruptly when the terrible alien let the armor plate drop.

"You are supposed to have been dead!" Spaar declared angrily.

"Then it looks like the Yevetha are not the only ones who lie," the stranger said.

Infuriated, Spaar unsheathed the dew claws and slashed both arms quickly at the intruder. He caught Spaar's razor-sharp claws in his hands and stopped the Yevethan's motion instantly. With an easy twist, he snapped the claws off.

Spaar stared at his broken dew claws for the longest time, stunned. Finally, though, he reared his head back and screamed, not in pain, but rage. He rushed the intruder again, only to stop in shock as some unseen force lifted him off the deck plating. Around the command deck, the other Yevetha fell to their knees, staring in awe and terror at the sight of their leader being levitated.

"My name is Kale Naberrie. I am a Jedi Knight. And you will abide by your side of the bargain."

"I will not do business with barbarians!" Spaar screamed.

"Your claws are broken, Spaar," Kale said. "I've seen and sensed enough of your people to know what that means." Kale flung Spaar across the deck at the feet of another Yevethan. "You are now not even nitakka, you are a broken claw!"

Spaar's eyes widened. "How do you know those words?"

"From your mind," Kale said. "From the Force. Are you above your own customs, Spaar? You are a broken claw."

Suddenly the Yevethan's face drooped. He turned away from Kale and up at the male standing in front of him. "He's right," he whispered in his own language. He lifted his chin. The other male slashed his throat without hesitation, and Nil Spaar died just as he had lived—bathed in blood.

The male who killed him walked across the command deck to face Kale. "We shall keep our side of the bargain," he said in stilted Basic. "We shall deal with the Imperials on the surface, and we keep one ship."

"Yes," Kale said.

"After this, no more bargains. Tell your kind to not ever return to the Koornacht Cluster. This is our home."

Kale nodded. "Very well."

The male motioned to the others, and in silence they shuffled out. Only when they were gone did Kale notice that Nil Spaar was also gone. The only thing of him that remained were his shattered claws by Kale's feet, and the blood on the deck plating where he fell.


	26. Part III: Making Friends on Coruscant

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Making Friends on Coruscant**

Kyle Katarn stretched until his back popped. Behind him, Jan Ors groaned as she popped her neck. "Whose idea was this?" she asked.

"Yours."

"Oh yeah."

They stood in a grain storage crate four meters high and two meters square. After using the Force to search for any presences nearby, Kyle used his lightsaber to cut an opening in the crate. Only then did he and Jan dare take off their breathers. They found themselves on top of a very high wall of similar crates in a warehouse large enough to house a dreadnaught.

"Where are the rest?" Jan asked.

Kyle began pointing out the marked crates that housed their comrades. "We're going to have a heck of a time getting them out," Jan noted. "They must be a hundred meters off the ground."

"Look down, Sweetheart," Kyle said. "_We're_ a hundred meters off the ground."

"Oh yeah. Any ideas?"

Every one of the infiltration units was equipped with a grappler, of course, so they could repel down easily enough. It was getting out of the crates that was the problem. All the units were on complete com silence. It was Kyle who was supposed to get the first of them out. But they were a hundred meters off the ground, and the other crates were across a very wide chasm.

They both heard a mechanical humming above their heads and looked up to see a loading arm swinging back with another crate. With the Force Kyle could sense more Rebel agents inside. "That's the ticket," he said as he pulled his grappler out and began swinging it.

"Kyle, I don't like where that rusty brain of yours is going," Jan said.

"Hang on anyway," he instructed. He threw the hook and then held out a hand, guiding his own throw with the Force. The hook flew straight and true and wrapped around the loading arm of the huge crane. He just had time to wrap an arm around Jan and kiss her. "For luck," he said.

"And forgiveness for doing this to me!" Jan said with a scream at the end as the loading arm yanked both from their crate. Hundreds of meters below them, empty space swung dizzily by.

"I'm going to let go," he said. "Be prepared to drop and roll."

"What?" Jan asked urgently.

Kyle let go and pushed to make sure she did as well. She screamed as she fell three meters onto the top of the perfectly square, tightly packed crates. Still, training and instinct overcame her fear of heights as she let her knees bend and take her into a shock-absorbing roll. A moment later Kyle joined her. She grabbed his spacer's vest and pulled him close, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Do not do that again," she whispered.

He kissed her again. "Sorry."

"Not yet, you aren't," she snapped back. "You might as well turn off your hot water, nerfherder!" Still fuming, she unrolled her own grappler, hooked it securely onto one of the grate hooks, and took a deep breath. "I can't tell you how much I hate this."

"I know, Jan," Kyle said, more gently this time. He pulled his own grappler back from the retreating loader arm and did the same. Together, they went over the side of the crate, confident the weight of the grain and the grates themselves would prevent the whole stack from toppling.

With a tap of his lightsaber or her vibroknife to let those inside know what was coming, the rebels quickly began cutting their fellow agents out of the crates used to smuggle them onto Coruscant.

The process took a long time. Even packed ten men to a crate, when trying to infiltrate the center of the Empire with a strike force of many hundreds of agents, transportation became a real problem.

The only weak point in Coruscant's defenses was food. With nearly a trillion people and very little in the form of food production, Imperial Center shipped in the equivalent of three agriculture planets' gross domestic harvest nearly every month. The flow of food was so great, in fact, that not even the most strenuous security checks could hope to police it all. This was Jan's point when she suggested using the standard black and gray grain crates to get onto the planet.

The process of freeing the agents grew more efficient as the freed agents themselves began helping. In the end, they had the entire taskforce freed. Of course, since it took the better part of two hours to free every one, someone was bound to discover them.

The fact that "someone" happened to be a squad of storm troopers on patrol was simply how the sabacc hand fell, as far as Kyle was concerned.

The storm troopers came around a corner in a squad of four troopers and one officer, and simply stared at the gathering of what looked like an army of armed civilians. "What is happening here?"

"Surprise!" Jan yelled, thinking quickly. "It's your lifeday!"

The officer blinked. "It is not!"

"Too bad," Kyle said before shooting the officer.

The stormtroopers went for their rifles, but then thought better of it as two thousand, four hundred well trained Rebel SpecOps troopers raised their own weapons.

Half an hour after that, wearing storm trooper armor again for the first time in years, Kyle nodded to Major Derlin. "Break up, spread out. Go to your pre-assigned rendezvous points and wait for the Intelligence officers to pick you up."

"Good luck, Colonel," Derlin said.

"You too, Major."

Beside him, looking rather short in her armor, stood Jan Ors. "I ever tell you how much I like women in armor?" Kyle said.

"I bet you say that to all the armored women you meet."

He winked. "As a matter of fact, I do." He pulled on his helmet. After pulling her hair into a tight bun, Jan did the same. Together, they began walking toward the far entrance of the warehouse.

"So where do we go first?" Jan asked.

"InviSec," Kyle said. "We need to check on some things for Han. They should be coming in the next few days, and we need to make sure they're welcomed in style."

As they walked down a wide corridor lined with some crates as small as a person and some as large as a building, they heard a loud rumble from one of the larger, building-sized crates. "What was that?" Jan asked.

Kyle stopped and reached out with the Force, recoiling quickly as he did so. "Something nasty," he said. "Let's hurry up and get out of here."

A door hissed open at the end of the corridor and a squad of twenty storm troopers rushed out led by an Imperial lieutenant. "You!" he said when he spotted Jan and Kyle. "Where is the rest of your patrol and why haven't you checked in yet?"

"There was a malfunction in the loading arm that dropped a crate on our lieutenant," Kyle lied quickly. "We were going for help."

"Why not call it in?" the officer demanded.

"I don't know, sir."

"What is your ID number?" the officer called.

"1138 S I T H S P I T," Kyle said.

The officer removed a piece of flimsiplast and dutifully took notes. Not even when it was spelled out in his own hand did he… "That number is not the correct format. Wait, what is this?" he demanded angrily as he finally did notice the word the "ID Number" spelled.

"Our exit," Kyle said.

He and Jan turned and ran.

"After them!" the lieutenant called.

"Kyle?" Jan asked.

"Yeah."

"Any Jedi tricks up your sleeve?"

"Just one," Kyle said. From the utility belt of the armor he wore, Kyle removed his lightsaber and ran toward the building-sized crate with the odd rumbling. With a quick, efficient slice he removed the magnetic lock control. "Run!" he shouted as the entire wall of the crate began moaning.

It took a Force push for Jan and a Force jump for Kyle himself to clear the way as the wall came thundering down to the floor. From the menacing darkness of the unlit crate emerged a nightmare.

It was a rancor, but only in the sense an _Executor_-class super dreadnaught was a star destroyer. This creature hulked larger than any rancor Kyle had ever heard of. But more than that, the creature had obviously been mutated almost beyond recognition. Huge viols of green fluid each the size of a human ran in two rows down its bent spine, connected directly into the creature's thick skin. Its eyes were completely covered with large metal plates that appeared to have been bolted directly to its bone.

The whole thing throbbed with the Dark Side of the Force.

"What is that thing?" Jan asked.

"Must be one of Palpatine's pets," Kyle said.

They slowed as they heard screams behind them. The mutated rancor was spraying the unlucky lieutenant and his troopers with some green corrosive fog that killed them instantly and literally caused the surrounding crates to explode.

"By the Force!" Kyle muttered.

With terrifying speed, the rancor swung its huge, blind head toward them. "Kyle, I think it can hear us," Jan said.

It roared loud enough to make all the crates rattle. "I think you're right," Kyle said.

"What should we do?" she said.

"I'm thinking about running. You?"

"Sounds good."

They turned and ran. The rancor followed with an angry roar. Activating the com system in his helmet, Kyle said, "This is TK 241 in the Sector 2546-A warehouse. We have a rancor on the loose. Requesting immediate assistance with heavy weapons. Repeat, we have a rancor on the loose. Need immediate assistance with heavy weapons."

The reply was immediate. "Say again, TK241. Did you say a rancor?"

Behind them, the rancor roared again. "Affirmative, control," Kyle said.

"Stay put, TK. Help is coming."

The message ended and Kyle took off his helmet. Jan followed his lead. "What now?"

"We shed the armor and keep running," he said.

Leaving behind a trail of white storm trooper armor for the rancor to follow, they ran as quickly as they could through the confusing maze of the warehouse. Wherever they went, it seemed the rancor was just a step behind, bulldozing its way through not just crates, but walls as well. "What did we ever do to that thing?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, I'm sure it's your fault," Jan said. They turned a corner around a stack of crates and faced a complete dead end with a containment field blocking their only path. "Oh Sithspit," she said.

"See that!" Kyle asked urgently.

"What?"

"That vent?"

"Yeah."

"I think that's an emergency flood valve."

"Okay."

Behind them, a crate the size of a landspeeder flew against the wall and shattered in a spray of Ithorian fire sprouts. The rancor emerged a second later, sniffing loudly.

"The vent it is," Jan decided.

Kyle pulled his lightsaber and the two sprinted across the corridor to the vent. Kyle had it open in a single efficient slash and Jan climbed in first. Kyle waited as the massive creature lumbered up behind him. He heard a long intake of breath from the rancor and knew he did not have time to climb in.

"Here I come!" he shouted as he dove in headfirst just as a spray of green death enveloped the vent. He felt a chemical heat against the heel of one boot as he plummeted into the darkness below.

He landed in old, fetid water as the angry roars of the rancor were suddenly interrupted by heavy weapons fire. "Jan?" he asked. "Where are you?"

He felt her hand on his arm. "I've found a way out. It should let out in the middle of the warehouse district."

Kyle took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Hey Jan?"

"Yeah."

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"Not since this morning, and I'm definitely holding a grudge about it."

"Well, I love you."

"That's better. Now get your arse in gear. I don't even want to think about what else is floating in this water!"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

A Golan III Space Defense NovaGun was nearly as powerful as an _Imperial I-_ class star destroyer, sporting 50 turbolaser batteries and 24 proton torpedo launchers. It held a complement of more than a dozen star fighters and had a crew of 880 technicians and over 200 gunners.

A Golan II was only slightly smaller, with 35 turbolaser batteries, 10 proton torpedo launchers and a bay with 12 or more star fighters. Its crew compliment was 550 with 149 gunners. The Alliance was going to take those platforms held in geosynchronous orbit over the Imperial Palace.

"That's a tall order," Lieutenant Blunt said.

The lieutenant was one of several deep-cover agents who had been seeded to Coruscant over the last six months. Like the other agents, he was one who went to the many rendezvous sites to collect the SpecOps teams.

The meeting itself consisted only of the deep cover agents and the officers of the taskforce. The rest of the soldiers had been split back up and positioned in strategic teams around the city.

Kyle shrugged. "That's just the tip of the asteroid. Not only do we have to take the platforms, we need to keep the Imperials from realizing that we've taken them."

Blunt and the other agents stared back at Kyle as if… "You're insane," Blunt said.

"Yes, but I'm pretty," Kyle snapped back. "Now listen up, this isn't a joke. We _are_ going to take those platforms or a lot of our friends are going to die. And we have one week to do it."

One of the other agents, a strikingly beautiful woman with black hair and Kiffar tattoos across her cheeks, shrugged. "It can't be done."

"It can," Jan said. "It must. And we start here, now."

"I want observation teams on every man and woman in those platforms," Kyle said. "I want to know who they are, where they live, when they go to work and when they come back. This is domestic duty for most of them, so chances are they live on the surface rather than on Centax 1. I want to find any patterns we can exploit, and windows of opportunity we may have. And this must be done in absolute silence. With the fleet of star destroyers, missile boats and support ships in permanent station over Coruscant, this is very important. One inkling that the Empire has lost control of an orbital defense platform, and we're all dead."

Blunt looked at the Kiffar agent, and then at the rest of the agents. "Okay, let's get started."

It took the intelligence agents two days to discover two key points of interest: 1) each shift ended at the same time each day; and 2) each shift received leave at the same time.

This interested Kyle and his command team especially because of how unusual it was to keep work shifts together instead of constantly rotating personnel. They soon determined the reason—the commander in charge of coordinating the shifts was having an affair with one of the shift leaders, a young female lieutenant who was admittedly quite attractive, and several years (even decades) younger than the commander.

The commander's amorous relations with this young lieutenant were complicated by his wife of twenty-five years. Hence, the lieutenant's shift always ended in the middle of the day, allowing her and the commander to have the afternoon together without the wife's knowing. This had a ripple effect on the other shifts with the result that the same cadre of people all served at the same time in the same shift day in and day out.

Of course, Intelligence pointed out to Kyle that the wife was having an affair with the commander's non-commissioned aide at the same time and knew exactly what was happening with her spouse, but enjoyed the relative wealth of an Imperial commander's pay grade too much to change the status quo.

"Still," Jan noted upon reading the reports, "you ever do anything like that to me and you're a dead man."

"Does that mean we're going to get married someday?"

"No, it just means if you ever cheat on me you're going to be a dead man."

Kyle kissed her neck and said, "Good to know where I stand."

The second part of the operation made many of the Alliance executives over Madine squeamish, but both Katarn and the General knew it had to be done. Madine issued the orders not to the SpecForce squads, but to Katarn's SpecOps teams directly.

SpecOps teams had little trouble committing murder. Many of them were, in fact, former criminals under Imperial law. In the course of one night two weeks after the still unreported theft of the Black Sword ships at N'zoth, whole shifts of Imperial Navy personnel were hunted down, murdered, and then thoroughly disposed of.

The commander and his lieutenant lover were killed in a rented room and their bodies were quickly vaporized. The commander's wife and her own corporal lover were murdered in the commander's own bed.

In the end, the intelligence agents and SpecOps task force killed and vaporized thousands of people in cold blood. It was unlike any mission Kyle had ever been a part of for the Alliance, and when the last report of successful assassination came in, Kyle felt filthy.

"Now I know how Leia felt with the Black Sword fleet," he muttered in the small rented room a few hundred klicks south of the palace that served as their headquarters.

"If we tried taking the platforms by force, they would have died as well," Jan pointed out.

"They would have died fighting in uniform. These people were killed in civilian dress on their days off."

Jan sat beside Kyle and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Knowing what's coming, I find myself looking at the people around the palace. Did you know there is not a single school within fifty kilometers of the palace? It's like no one that close has children, or if they do they get their kids as far away as they can."

"They may not have kids at all," Kyle pointed out. "The people that close to the palace are rich. The rich tend to either inherit it, or earn it. Those who earned it are likely older, those who inherit it don't generally care about politics as much and so wouldn't live that close to the palace." He turned and looked at her. "Are you saying this to make me feel better?"

Jan shrugged, and then pushed his shoulders back and straddled his lap, facing him. "I can't tell you if what we're doing is right or wrong, Kyle. But I'll tell you this. I believe in what we're fighting for. I believe in the Alliance. I believe in you. And I do love you."

"So does that mean we're going to be married some day?"

She kissed him. "No, you idiot. It just means I love you."

"That's enough, I guess."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Han and Leia stood on the bridge of the newly commissioned _Freedom's Hammer_, the Alliance's first super star destroyer. The two of them were reading over the reports from the operation on Imperial Center. So far, none of the agents had been compromised.

Nearby the couple stood Colonel Antilles, overseeing the last steps of preparation for the _Freedom Hammer's_ deployment. The ship was not finished by any means, which was why it was at N'zoth in the first place. However, most of the unfinished areas involved crew quarters and cosmetics, as the weapon and drive systems were always completed first on a star destroyer.

"Colonel," Han said as Wedge joined them.

Wedge smiled and took Han's hand. "General. Princess. Are you two ready?"

They nodded and the three of them left the command deck toward the conference room on the same level. There they found Admiral Ackbar, General Madine, General Rieekan, General Calrissian and finally Mon Mothma herself waiting for them. Kale and Mara were nowhere to be seen.

The door closed and locked behind the last three arrivals.

"This meeting is classified as highest confidentiality. We have designated 24:00 hours Coruscant time tomorrow as H-Hour," Ackbar began. "We have already sent coded transmissions to our assets on the planet. We have dedicated the vast majority of our resources to this campaign."

Madine leaned forward. "Before we finally commit, however, there is something we need to discuss."

Leia had been waiting for this for weeks, even before she and Han went to the Koornacht Cluster. "The message from Vader," she said.

Mon tried to smile. "We know how difficult it has been for you, knowing that he is your biological father."

"I got over it," Leia said. "I didn't find his hospitality or fatherly concern much to my liking while I was there."

Mon's smile looked strained; Madine did not even try to smile. "I'm more concerned about the message than its origin," he said. "Winter has previously expressed a great deal of misgiving over Ms. Jade's conversion to the Alliance, and while I trust you implicitly, I trust her as well. After our debriefing and further review, I have to admit I share this distrust. Jade was as highly placed and trained of an agent for the Empire as there was, possibly second in the Emperor's eyes only to Vader himself. Whatever misfortunes may have fallen on her, I find it hard to believe she would convert just for Captain Naberrie."

Leia could not help but smile. "Crix, I don't think you could understand." She turned to Mothma. "You've seen his eyes, haven't you?"

The leader of the Alliance actually blushed. "Well…."

Madine, Rieekan and Ackbar shared a long look.

"He's a handsome boy with an earnest face," Calrissian said, evidently more secure that the others. "And he can fly through star destroyers. I can see the attraction a woman might have for him. I personally think Mara really is in love with him. The rest just kind of follows."

"He's in love with her, anyway," Han pointed out. "And let's face it; the kid is our Pure Sabacc in this game. He's the only one who has a chance against the Emperor's pet Kryptonians and the Emperor or Darth Vader himself."

"We are actually timing the invasion to coincide with Vader's absence," Ackbar said. "We have determined that Lord Vader and his fleet departed Coruscant for the Outer Rim territories this morning. The Oversector fleet should be at Anaxes. The Capital is at its least defended in five years, and the window will only remain open for three more days."

Han nodded. "So, the time is right. The question is what do we want to do about Mara?"

"We want to keep her out of the battle," Madine said. "I believe we should drop her off at Dantooine for the duration of the battle."

"With all due respect, General," Leia said, "she has invaluable knowledge of the Imperial Palace and security codes in general. Even if they've changed the codes, I believe she is too valuable NOT to take on this mission."

"You will be placing yourselves in the Emperor's hands if Operation Freedom's Hammer does not work."

"If it doesn't work, we're all dead anyway," Han said. "Even Kale."

"We will keep her with us," Leia promised. "Kale may be smitten, but in each of his past encounters with her, he has never let his feelings for her put any of the rest of us in mortal danger." She continued quickly before someone reminded her of Kyle Katarn's close encounter with Mara's lightsaber. "I don't believe he will do that now."

Mon locked Leia in a long gaze. "I hope so, Leia, for all our sakes. She could be the end of everything we, and your father, have fought for all these years."

"Mara will not let us down," Leia said. However, in her mind, she prayed for her words to be true.

The Force was oddly silent on the subject.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"They don't trust me," Mara said.

Kale rolled onto his side on his bed and looked at her, their faces so close their noses touched. Her hand rested on his chest, his hand cupped the inner curve of her hip.

"It doesn't matter," Kale told her. "I trust you."

"Why is that again?"

"Because I love you."

A slow smile crept across her lips as she kissed him. "Better not forget that."

"I never could."

Half an hour later, as she rested on him, she said, "Kale?"

"Yeah."

"I have to go with you."

He looked down into the emerald depths of her eyes. "Have to?"

"I can't explain it. Call it a hunch. Call it the Force. But I just know that I have to be with you. Something terrible will happen if I'm not there."

He put his arm around her shoulders and held her close. "You'll be there. Either that, or I won't be."


	27. Part III: HHour

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: H-Hour**

Galactic Standard Time was keyed off the local time at the Imperial Palace on Imperial Center, previously known as Coruscant. The planet had a 24 hour day and 368 days in a standard year.

Therefore, when the Alliance selected 18:00 hours as the commencement of the first phase of Operation Freedom's Hammer, it meant that when the evening shifts took over for the Golan defense platforms, Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors and a liberal mix of Rebel Spec Forces and Spec Ops teams in Imperial uniforms were on the Imperial transport shuttles.

It meant that when five licensed civilian transports filled with four hundred civilians each arrived at a public terminal, the two thousand men and women who filed out with Imperial visas and large duffel bags were comprised almost entirely of Alliance marines and infantry soldiers.

It meant the moment of decision was fast approaching.

The first challenge for Operation Freedom's Hammer was to get two thousand soldiers on Imperial Center without eliciting the notice of the Imperial Security Bureau. The large bags (the Alliance had the sense to vary type and color, but could do nothing regarding the necessary size) and unusually uniform make-up of the civilians would shout out a warning to almost any reasonably trained agent of the ISB.

Kyle, following up on ground work laid by Han Solo over the past year, initiated their diversion with a single holonet call while in route to the transport. The diversion was all General Solo's idea, given past incidents in his life and his recent sojourn in Invisec.

"Mad Wookiees!" someone screamed as the first transport began to unload.

The line of ISB officers who oversaw the unloading of civilians off the transports turned in perfect unison to see a horde of almost a hundred armed, howling Wookiees charging out of a sizable speeder van that landed without authorization near the docking ring. The Wookiees rushed out of the van firing bowcasters and blasters while waiving their arms angrily.

Naturally, the ISB forces gathered to address the problem, since, as most people knew, mad Wookiees WERE a problem. The remaining ISB security guards were sufficiently distracted to never take an accounting of the small surge of people entering Coruscant.

"Do you think they'll survive?" Leia asked quickly as she and Han shuffled along with the rest of the soldiers toward the immigration window.

"My contacts from Invisec have an escape route planned," Han said as he watched an ISB guard fly off the platform into the unending depths of the city below. "But not all of them are going to make it, and I told them that when I met with them."

"But?"

"They were friends of a Wookiee I almost got discharged over," Han said. "I struck an officer to save Wookiee, but he was later killed anyway. They saw me. When I came and told them what I had planned, they agreed to help regardless of the price. Wookiees never forget."

Leia nodded and watched another ISB guard get tossed off the platform like a toy. "They've very strong."

"That's why they're so distracting," Han said with a grin.

In another line exiting the third transport, Mara and Kale also watched the chaos ensue. "One hundred Wookiees and the whole place falls apart," Mara muttered. "Lord Vader conquered Kashyyyk with just two divisions."

"I think it has to do with the quality of the troops," Kale said. He pointed to one of the guards looking over them. The man was shorter than stormtrooper norm, with a noticeable paunch that made his stern expression vaguely laughable.

Mara nodded.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Kyle Katarn adjusted his commander's insignia and nodded to Jan and the others behind him. "Are you ready?" he asked quietly, since the pilot was still Imperial.

The four hundred men and women in the shuttle nodded almost as one. Kyle turned back and watched the monitor as they approached the Golan III platform. The Alliance was concentrating on the four Golan III platforms as their primary targets, with two more squads heading toward the Golan IIs. They were not going to try and take over the whole network, since their goal was to assist in the punching of a hole in one sector of Coruscant's defense, rather than the dismantling of the planet-wide security ring.

He checked his time. "Eighteen hundred hours," he said. "Right on time."

The shuttle docked and the main hatch opened to reveal two storm troopers and the shift leader, a young lieutenant fresh out of Carida. The lieutenant took one look at Kyle and started to speak when Kyle said, "Hello, Lieutenant Savith. I'm Commander Tolrin."

Lieutenant Savith blinked in confusion for a moment. The stormtroopers simply stood and awaited their orders. Unlike the crew and gunners of the platform, the small contingent of troopers were rotated on a regular basis and likely didn't know either of the officers.

"Welcome, Commander," Savith finally said in a dull voice. He handed over a flimsi. "Here is the activity report for my shift. There was slightly elevated civilian traffic that has subsided. We have received notice of a disturbance in the Imperial Center sector below, but ISB states they have the situation under control."

"Acknowledged," Kyle said as his men and women started unloading from the shuttle. He handed the lieutenant the real Commander Tolrin's orders. "Here are my orders. Reporting for duty."

"You have the platform," Savith said with a sharp salute.

As soon as Kyle's people unloaded, Savith and his shift climbed into the shuttle—the whole staff of the entire platform. If the Emperor ever found out how the real Tolrin had endangered security to liaison with one of his junior officers, he would have been shot instead of having his throat cut by the Alliance.

When the last of the first night shift was off, Kyle looked back at the two storm troopers and smiled as his lightsaber fell into his hand from a hidden sleeve pocket. By 18:40 hours Kyle and his people had control of the Golan III platform without anyone on the surface being the wiser. He logged onto the Imperial holonet using codes stolen from Tolrin and observed with satisfaction as the other platforms targeted by the Alliance also checked in under the names of the now dead shift leaders.

"We're ready," Kyle said. "Three hours twenty minutes and counting."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The Emergency Response Center #12 had a crew of almost five hundred men and women and fifty emergency craft ready to do everything from extinguish a fire to recover and repair a commuter tram. They were not prepared for a commando team of five hundred men and women that rushed into their station in civilian clothes carrying military-issue weapons.

"Everyone down!" General Han Solo called. Around the station, which rested on the top floor of an otherwise unremarkable apartment complex fifty kilometers or so from the Imperial Palace, more Rebel troopers spilled in, cutting off every possible avenue of escape.

"What is the meaning of this?" the station chief demanded.

Han put a blaster to the man's face. "This clear enough for you?"

The chief nodded with a gulp.

As his people shepherded the rest of the station's crew into their launching bay, other**s **of his people closed the outer hangar doors. "My name is General Han Solo of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It is not our intention to harm any of you, but we are at war, and if you make our jobs difficult, we will kill you."

"You're nothing but cursed rebel terrorists!" one of the crewmen hissed.

"Ask the people on Toprawa if I'm a terrorist," Han snarled back. "Oh, that's right, you can't. Your Emperor murdered them all with the Death Star." He looked over at the major under his command. "Derlin, have these people stripped of all communications equipment and uniforms, and then secure them." He clapped his hands. "Let's move, people! We're on a tight schedule—we're down to three hours and counting! Let's get those laser cannons loaded!"

At the very same moment, Captain Kale Naberrie and Mara Jade led a similar raid on Emergency Response Center #10. Centers #9 and #11 were also raided with equal speed and efficiency.

After the ER personnel were secured at Station #10 and the conversation teams completed their work on the fire control vehicles, Kale and Mara made their way onto the roof of the tower. Mara stared at the distant mountain of light that was the palace in dread. They had accomplished their initial missions; now there was nothing they could do but to wait for the signal.

Even from fifty kilometers, the palace loomed over the other structures of the already high city. The upper levels of the palace were so high they literally scraped the sky. Although it was the depth of night, the planet-wide city of Coruscant never truly slept. The palace was no exception, and blazed like a Nova bomb over the cityscape.

She remembered a time not long ago when she looked upon the monolithic structure with pride and adoration. The fact she could see it so clearly from fifty kilometers away was testament enough of its size, but instead of pride she simply felt fear. She looked down at the hand holding hers. The hand covered hers completely, and as she turned and studied Kale it struck her how large and solid he was. There was not an ounce of fat on his body, but when he stood the whole room noticed. The adolescent innocence she was first attracted to on Naboo was gone, replaced by the confident lines of a man who had learned to be comfortable with what he was, and who projected power with every ounce of his body. He was so beautiful to her, it took her breath away.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

A cool breeze blew in from the Manarai Mountains, pulling her hair over her eyes for a moment. She pulled the red strands back. "Just a bad feeling," she said. "Kale, the Emperor has foreseen every attack on his person there ever was. He's defeated all of them. I just can't help but wonder if we're walking into a trap."

"We might be," Kale said. "We have before. But the thing is we're very good at breaking out of traps."

"You're good at breaking things period," she said.

"Yes."

She turned back to the palace. "When do you think the signal will come?"

Kale looked at his chrono. "It's nearly H-hour. We should be seeing some fireworks soon."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Grand Admiral and Grand Moff Rufaan Tigellinus (the only person to hold both ranks), Supreme Commander of the Imperial Center Oversector and only one of twelve grand admirals in service to the Emperor, tossed off the blue hand of the Twi'lek slave girl and sat up with an angry grunt.

The holovid beside the grand admiral's bed beeped again. "Open channel, voice only," Tigellinus said.

"Sorry to bother you, Admiral," Admiral Solus's voice said. "We have a Priority One Fleet Alert from Black Sword Command."

Like most of his fellow Grand Admirals, Tigellinus was more politician than soldier. However, the consequence of his consolidating military power in the Imperial Center Oversector was the actual responsibility of maintaining that Oversector. Which meant occasionally his evenings were interrupted. "Understood. What's the message?"

"Black 15 and all ground personnel have been lost to a slave revolt from the natives. The _Intimidator_ and five escort ships were able to launch and enacted punitive strikes on the native population. One ship was lost. The battle group was launched with a minimal skeleton crew and is in route to Imperial Center for further personnel and orders."

Tigellinus sat up a little. "You mean to tell me we have a super star destroyer and five escorts en route to Imperial Center when half the home fleet is at Anaxes and Lord Vader's fleet just left for the Outer Rim?"

The Grand Admiral was about to point out to Admiral Solus what an idiot he was, and to ask how he would enjoy commanding transports as a lieutenant, when he heard a hiss and felt a rush of warmth from his neck. He turned and stared at the blue Twi'lek girl sitting behind him as she let the hypo fall from her fingers to the sheets. She leaned over and kissed him passionately, and then whispered, "Let them pass. On your responsibility. With medical supplies."

The Grand Admiral nodded stupidly. "Very well, Admiral Solus," he said toward the blank holovid. "Let them pass on my responsibility. Ensure we have medical supplies standing by."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, Admiral. Solus out."

Tigellinus leaned back in the arms of the slave girl, whom he had seen that night at the opera on the arm of one of the newer shipping magnates, a young man named Kardde. "You are beautiful," he said, his speech slurred by the drug racing through his system.

The Twi'lek leaned down and kissed him again. "How fortunate then for you," she said softly, "that you get to look upon beauty in your last moments of life."

The Grand Admiral did not even hear the words as he stared up at her and let the warmth of the drug and beauty of her face carry him gently away into the black.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The HIMS _Intimidator_ emerged from hyperspace at about 400,000 kilometers from Imperial Center, with its five escorts of_ Imperial_-II class destroyers in formation around it. The ships arrived at the established exit window for military capital ships and stayed on their assigned flight path toward not the planet directly, but to the Staging Base on Centax-1, the only facility in orbit large enough to support a super star destroyer.

Centax-1 was a small moon orbiting at approximately 152,000 kilometers from the surface of Coruscant and measured a modest 1200 kilometers in diameter. At present it held a garrison of 40,000 stormtroopers and a shipyard capable of building ships as large as heavy frigates, as well as servicing larger ships such as star destroyers.

The commander of the Centax-1 Naval Base was a fifteen-year veteran named Commander Johas. When he went to the observation tower of the base to watch the magnificent vessels approaching, he felt a sense of overwhelming pride. "This is the Empire!" he said aloud.

The pride turned to confusion, and then fear, as a shower of green bolts suddenly erupted from the long, broad side of the _Intimidator_. The bolts of green light were coming directly at the Staging Facility. Commander Johas did not even have time to scream an alert before the Centax-1 Naval Base melted under the withering rain of death.

The massive hangar bays of the super star destroyer and its escorts opened to reveal CR90 corvettes—two dozen of them. Most came from the much larger hanger of the _Intimidator_, with ten others coming from the escort ships. The ships were painted in black and immediately went to full sublight acceleration directly toward Imperial Center.

From the bridge of the _Intimdator_, rechristened the _Freedom's Hammer_, Admiral Ackbar sent the signal. "The Hammer has fallen!"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The night skies over Corsucant exploded into chaos.

The twenty picket ships in constant orbit around the planet responded immediately to the threat, but found themselves faced with two significant obstacles that made responding difficult. First, they had the unexpected difficulty with their Friend or Foe systems that clearly identified the incoming ships as friendlies in spite of the fact the incoming ships were firing on them and Imperial installations. This required gunners to fire by line of sight, and when dealing with distances of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, line of sight was not very trustworthy. The second obstacle complicating the defense of Coruscant was that those twenty star destroyers were spread in evenly spaced orbits around the whole planet.

Although they immediately began to converge on the attack, for the first precious minutes of the encounter four star destroyers found themselves facing a super star destroyer and five _Imperial-II_ class destroyers, plus two dozen corvettes and now, it appeared, four squadrons of fighters.

The fighters were Imperial TIE fighters, also broadcasting friendly transponder codes. When the defending destroyers launched their own fighters to intercept, what resulted was a mad-house of friendly fire incidents.

Still the corvettes continued toward Coruscant.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Concentrate all fire on the nearest destroyer!" Admiral Ackbar ordered. "Colonel Antilles, start working on the other destroyers!"

"Roger that, _Hammer_!" the colonel said from his TIE. "Captain Celchu, take Blue and Green Hammers and work on the third destroyer. Orange and Red Hammers with me!"

The four squadrons of TIE fighters broke up and headed toward the targeted destroyers while thousands of other TIEs continued flying and fighting amongst themselves, completely confused as to friend or foe. The lead star destroyer began to bleed as the _Freedom's Hammer_ and its escorts pounded it with thousands of turbolaser cannons.

Still the corvettes launched by the Rebel incursion continued toward the surface, firing at anything in their path. The fourth destroyer sensed the lunging maneuver of the smaller ships and moved to intercept. Eleven of the smaller ships moved from the remaining thirteen and attacked the destroyer head-on, lashing it with proton torpedoes, missiles and laser cannon fire even as they took heavy damage from the star destroyer's own considerable armament.

The thirteen other corvettes continued toward the surface, blowing through the snub fighters, gun boats and missile frigates standing in their way.

As their rounded bows began to glow with plasma and the surface of the planet erupted in turbolaser fire below them, twelve of the corvettes pulled off like a peeled collay fruit, leaving the stem of one blockade runner to head toward the surface. The CR90 was the same design as the _Tantive IV_, but with augmented armor and shields, a payload full of explosives, and a complete slave rig. The ship did not have a single soul on it as it plunged flaming through the atmosphere of Imperial Center.

On the surface below, Kale and Mara saw the sky light up as the corvette entered the upper atmosphere of the planet. Below it, the air suddenly shimmered over the palace as the Emperor activated the palace shields.

From every rooftop of every building surrounding the palace came a storm of turbolaser fire, pecking away at the already flaming ship. Mara reached out compulsively for Kale's hand as the ship fell faster through the air. From fifty kilometers away, they could barely hear the sonic bursts of the ship's entry into the atmosphere.

"Kale, are we far enough away?" she asked.

"Everyone took radiation pills," he assured her. "You'll get some exposure, but you should be okay."

"What about the people?"

"It's the Imperial Palace," Kale reminded her. "The only people around it are those wanting to be in it."

This was, Mara knew, very true. Power attracted the power-hungry. Those within a hundred kilometers of the palace were among the richest and most powerful of the galaxy, all of whom either wanted to be more rich and powerful, or to have influence on those who already were. Still, a part of her warned, it was merely a rationale to make them all feel better about the horror the Alliance was about to commit.

A large piece of the 150 meter-long corvette suddenly flew off in a separate flaming contrail, impacting against the side of a tower to the north of the palace. Still, the ship continued down on its screaming path.

Mara took a deep breath. Kale stared. Behind them, the soldiers on the platform either got down on their stomachs or moved toward the stairs leading down into the station. "This is going to be something," Mara whispered.

"To remember," Kale agreed.

The ship hit the shields like a drop of molten lead striking an anvil. The nuclear payload within the ship went off less than a hundredth of a second later.

They lost sight of everything as the horizon suddenly went brilliantly white. Mara quickly looked away—Kale did not bother, but instead held her to him.

The shockwave did not strike until the red mushroom cloud had formed over the horizon. When it did hit, it stole the air from Mara's lungs and would have sent her flying off the platform if not for Kale's steadying arm around her shoulder. When the air cleared, she saw what appeared to be an almost pyroclastic cloud burning away the city around the palace.

"Start loading up!" Kale roared. The soldiers in the hangar below started climbing into the fleet of emergency vehicles, all of which had laser cannons mounted where the fire retardant cannons used to be. It was astounding what five hundred skilled soldiers could do in half an hour. It helped, of course, that the manufacturer of the fire retardant nozzle system just happened to be the same manufacturer of the laser cannons. In a cost saving move than saved the rebels time, the laser cannons fit onto the fire retardant's turret with the switch of a single joint.

The ring of fire spreading out from the palace seemed to be weakening slightly, eventually encompassing an area 40 kilometers out from the point of impact. None of the rebels wanted to consider just how many people within that 80 kilometer diameter died. Some numbers were too hard to think about.

What they were sure of, though, was that the Emperor was not among the dead. From the base of the mushroom cloud they could see the Imperial Palace intact. However, the glimmer of the shields was gone. This was why there were soldiers on the ground.

"Let's go," Kale ordered.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Captain Celchu howled in victory as the enemy star destroyer began to erupt. "We did it!"

"Additional enemy ships closing!" Colonel Antilles noted. "We have sixteen _Imperial-_I and _Imperial_-II class destroyers closing on our position!"

On board the _Freedom's Hammer_, Ackbar nodded. "Understood, Colonel. Continue your operations. All ships prepare to engage."

The sixteen star destroyers came in a double-V formation with two ships leading the others in a wedge behind them. As soon as they were within range they immediately opened fire on the _Freedom's Hammer_. They continued past the area defense platforms without noticing or wondering why the defense platforms were not also attempting to repel the incursion. When they were past the Golan III and Golan II defense platforms, they found out.

Kyle Katarn sat in the main control deck of the Golan III platform, watching eagerly as the formation of destroyers flew past. "Ready all torpedoes," he said. "Charge up all turbolaser batters."

"Charged and ready," Jan said. "The other stations report weapons charged and ready."

"Do we have a hard target lock?"

"I've locked our targets on the three nearest destroyers."

Kyle grinned. "Let's send a couple of torpedoes up their exhaust ports."

"Yes, sir!" Jan said.

Twenty-four proton torpedo launchers fired and fifty turbolaser batteries opened up, shooting eight torpedoes apiece not into the thruster plates, since that was actually the most heavily shielded part of a destroyer, but into the back of the command towers of the star destroyers. The turbolaser fire struck almost simultaneously, and did not let up as the defense platform fired a second and then third volley of torpedoes.

The first of the destroyer command towers exploded in a brilliant display, followed moments later by the next two. Down the line of destroyers, the other platforms had similar success. The defensive fleet was so disoriented by the surprise attack that some ships actually stopped forward progress toward the Rebel ships to try and turn to fire on the defense platforms.

Those ships that were foolish enough to do so exposed their stern and dorsal side to the overwhelming fire of the _Freedom's Hammer_. Ackbar, a consummate professional, took full advantage of his enemy's mistake.

"Admiral," Antilles said. "I think we're going to do it!"

The defense fleet crumbled under the combined fire of the Rebel ships and their own defensive platforms. Ackbar leaned over the rail looking into the stations in the trenches below. "This is too easy," he said aloud.

"Sir!" one of his Mon Cal sub officers called. "New ships emerging from hyperspace!"

Ackbar nodded. "Yes, I thought so." He stood and strode to the tactical base and watched as the _Executor_ emerged from hyperspace with a fleet of fifty star destroyers. "It's a trap, of course," he said calmly.


	28. Part III: The Second Battle of Coruscant

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Second Battle of Coruscant**

The skies buzzed with thousands of TIE fighters flying a tight formation around the Imperial Palace. However, the TIEs completely ignored the fleet of emergency vehicles descending on the palace below.

Thousands of the red vehicles zoomed over the devastated area around the palace, some flying in from every emergency station on the planet. They were, in fact, the only hover traffic in the air right now, per Imperial orders.

With the laser cannons looking just like the fire retardant cannons, the rebel alliance airships looked exactly like all the others as they flew toward the palace. The ring of hundreds upon hundreds of laser cannons and turbolasers that formed the defensive perimeter of the palace did not even bother tracking the ships.

"The hammers are in place," Han Solo's voice said over the secured comlink. "Position the nail."

Kale took a deep breath and nodded to Mara. "Are you ready?"

She nodded back. "Be careful."

"Hey, it's me!" Kale said with a tight grin. With an ease that still amazed her and all the men in her unit, Kale simply floated up from the open roof of the emergency vehicle. He concentrated his vision on the palace before him, looking with Kryptonian and Force vision for his target.

He found it after only a moment. It was a dark presence in both the Force and his x-ray vision. He saw a small figure of darkness surrounded by an eerie blue aura of Dark Side energy. Although he did not doubt he could kill the Emperor, Kale was not foolish enough to believe it would be easy. Yoda often mentioned his duel with the Emperor on the eve of the Empire's creation, and the sheer amount of power Palpatine had.

But where were Non and Zod?

He felt a surge of danger through the Force, but the only thing faster than the Force itself was an enraged Kryptonian. Kale barely had time to turn and see the blur of dark rage that was Non as it struck him at full speed.

In her emergency vehicle, Mara never took her eyes off Kale as their driver continued his path toward the palace. She saw a motion from far above and looked up to see two specks of dark flashing through the fiery sky. She tried calling a warning, but it was too late. Like a missile, the larger of the two specks slammed into Kale with so much energy they both shot out of the sky and through one of the defense turrets of the palace into the dark depths below. The second speck followed a moment later.

Mara spun around, her heart thudding. "The nail has been hit!" she called. "Kale's down!"

"That was the plan, sister!" Han called. "Just keep on target!"

Mara took a deep breath. Four years ago she could kill without blinking, and now she was on the verge of tears because her boyfriend was in a fight? "Get a hold of yourself," she said, reaching for that core of cold she clung to for so many years. No emotion. No pain. Just duty.

"Let's go," she said. "Emergency bay 23."

The pilot nodded. Although she was officially without rank, her knowledge of the palace was undeniable.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Fifty destroyers flanked the super star destroyer _Executor_. Every ship looked like a dagger pointed directly at Ackbar's heart. "All ships, come about, flank speed," Ackbar called, maintaining his professional calm in his voice. "Present your main guns to the approaching ships and fire at will. Order the corvettes to attack!"

The _Freedom's Hammer_ and her five escorts turned to present their ventral hull toward the horizon of the planet while their dorsal guns came to bear on the approaching fleet. Swarms of TIE fighters left both ships and engaged in a storm of green death in the center.

Suddenly the corvettes charged in at full sub-light, unheeding of the fighters or turbolaser fire flashing around them. One of the twenty-three remaining corvettes simply evaporated under the withering storm of a star destroyer, but another was right behind it.

Like the ship that struck the palace, the CR90 was on a complete slave rig controlled by the _Freedom's Hammer_. It struck the Imperial star destroyer at full speed with an astounding nuclear payload.

It was a testament to Imperial Engineering that the star destroyer did not completely evaporate under the tremendous explosion. It was a testament to Rebel ingenuity that the ship was undoubtedly out of the battle as the entire starboard hull was ruptured and venting both air and hypermatter.

The whole Imperial fleet slowed its advance when it realized that every one of the corvettes was nothing more than a larger, self-propelled missile.

"That got their attention," Ackbar said from his bridge. "And bought us some time."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Why are you landing here?" the storm trooper asked as the emergency vehicle came in. "The palace is secured."

"Not any more," General Han Solo said as the laser cannon on the vehicle spun around and destroyed the trooper and his entire platoon in three shots. "The Nail is inside," he reported over the comlink. "All units report as we go!"

One by one the rebel units started reporting in as the storming of the Imperial Palace began. Rather than leave their vehicle, Han and the other units actually blasted through the docking doors and drove the hover vans into the wide halls of the palace itself.

Workers within the palace scrambled through the halls in front of the Rebels in various states of undress, stunned as much by the sight of a large emergency van in the halls as by the fact they were under attack.

The surprise wore off quickly as swarms of stormtroopers came pouring out of every hallway and every turn.

"It gets rough from here," Han said as his gunner opened up. "Ladies, you're on!"

"I read you, Han," Leia answered.

"I'm already on my way," Mara said.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Kale lost count. Every second or so he felt the impact of duracrete, then he would fall again freely while the vicious creature above him roared silently and punched him over and over again.

A small corner of his consciousness, oblivious to the real danger to his life, noticed with clinical detachment how Non's fists had taken on almost a red glow from the heat of friction. The friction came from the near-light speed of his blows, and the numbing concussive force each of those blows had when they struck Kale's face.

He felt blood flowing from his lips and nose, and one eye swelling. He had no orientation to the world above. All he knew was that he was falling, and that Non was falling on top of him throwing fists like turbolasers.

Finally the fall ended. He couldn't have said where he was, or how far down. All he knew was that he hit something terribly, painfully solid, and this time he did not go through it. Still the blows came.

"How does it feel, Kal-El?" a cultured voice said over the piston-like rain of blows. "How does it feel to know you, who should never die, are about to?"

That clinical, detached part of Kale's mind wondered if Zod actually expected him to answer while Non was pounding on his face.

Zod's voice grew closer. "That child you loved, the one with the red hair. Is she special to you, Kal-El? Will she require my special attention after you are dead? I owe her pain, my foolish young friend. For what she did to Ursa, I owe her unbelievable pain. But the Emperor tells me he can clone her body and bring her back again and again. I can kill her again and again, for all eternity, until her mind is shattered beyond all recovery. I will do that for her, in remembrance of you, my last son of Krypton."

The blows stopped. Kale forced his eyes open to see Non staring at a silver cylinder that had fallen from Kale's belt. The larger Kryptonian picked it up, staring at it in curiosity. Zod stood right behind him. "Your Kryptonite lightsaber," the general said. "It was lethal enough against Ursa. Let us see how you fare against it."

Kale opened his mouth but did not recognize the sound that came from his lips.

With exaggerated care, Zod leaned forward. "What was that, Kal-El? I did not quite hear you."

"The lightsaber is the tool of the Jedi," Kale whispered. "In my hands or not."

Kale reached out with the Force. The blade activated in Non's hands, sending a shaft of brilliant green light directly through the brutish man's head. Whether it was a matter of overwhelming strength, or stupidity of such a scale that his body did not realize it was dead yet, Non continued to sit on top of Kale holding the lightsaber as it protruded through his skull. He made an odd whining sound, like a whipped animal, and only then toppled off Kale as the blade deactivated and fell to the floor.

Zod stood frozen, his face pale and his hands trembling with rage. "By Rao above, you will die!" Zod roared. The sound of his voice shook the walls of the black canyon around them. Faster than light itself, Zod ripped the lightsaber from Non's hand and threw it with the speed of a blaster bolt, until it shattered against a far distant wall.

He spun around. "I thought to make you kneel before me before you died," he snarled. "But even that small mercy is too much. You will die knowing pain the likes of which no Kryptonian has ever imagined!"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Admiral Piett stood on the command deck of the _Executor_ with a scowl. "Order the _Accuser_ and _Avenger_ to the fore position of the fleet," he ordered. "Full fire support. I want every gun we have pointed at the rebel super destroyer."

"And the suicide ships?" the ship's captain asked.

Piett snorted. "Those are slave rigged ships, you imbecile. The Rebels are not that brave. Order all fighters to take them out. I want those abominations out of my sky!"

He turned in time to see a brilliant flash of bright light a few hundred kilometers off the port bow and sighed angrily. "Amend my last orders. Have the _Adjudicator_ move into fore position. The _Accuser_ is gone. And order ten ships from the left flank of the fleet to move in to Sector 3 of the planet. I want the Rebels trapped."

The captain nodded and turned to carry out his orders. Piett remained rooted in place. Behind him, the holographic tactical display was showing the battle in real time, but Piett did not need it. The sheer audacity of the Rebel assault on Imperial Center itself was simply too much to bear; they had to be taught a lesson.

The flag officer rushed across the deck. "Admiral, we've received confirmed reports that the defense platforms on this side of the planet fired upon the defense fleet."

Piett nodded. "It explains how six ships were able to destroy twenty. Send TIE bombers and gunboats to take the platforms out."

"Yes, sir!" the officer said with a sharp salute.

When he was alone again to watch the battle, Piett ground his teeth. "There will be no quarter!" he said.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Mara and Leia met in a familiar corridor a few klicks from the turbolift that led to the detention block. Around them, food service personnel fluttered about like mindless animals, unsure of what was happening, but sure they should be afraid of it.

Amidst the chaos, Mara noticed Leia take a deep breath. "Are you ready?" she asked the princess.

"As I'll ever be," Leia said.

They ducked into the servants' changing room as the other servants scrambled about. When they emerged, they wore the plan gray clothes of food service personnel. They grabbed a cart that had been left in the hall and headed for the turbolift.

Mara entered an old override code that a simple security enforcement officer should not know, but one a Hand would. Accordingly, the lift door slid open and the two women walked in. "Are you sure he's actually here?" Leia said as the lift began to drop.

"He was one of Isard's prisoners," Mara said. "He transferred in after she finished with him. He's very old."

"I know."

They emerged from the lift and saw two security guards look up in surprise. "What are you doing?" one demanded. "The palace is under attack, this isn't a time to be feeding prisoners!"

Mara pulled her blaster from its holster under the over-large serving uniform and fired off two quick, precise shots. The two guards dropped like stones.

"We'd better hurry," Mara said. "The only thing going for us is the attack, and even then there are plenty of troopers to come after us."

Leia nodded and removed her lightsaber while Mara ran to the controls. Her fingers flew over the controls, and instantly all the cell doors opened.

Leia was expecting General Jan Dodonna, who was captured by the Imperials shortly after the Battle of Yavin. Instead of the general, though, she watched with a growing sense of coldness as stormtrooper after stormtrooper stepped into the hall. Each one knelt down and pointed his blaster rifle at her and Mara.

From the middle of the squad of troopers, Leia heard a familiar mechanical hiss and could see a black dome bobbing through the troopers. In the end, Vader emerged from his men. "We meet again, my daughter," he said. "We have been expecting you."

Leia turned around and glared at Mara. "I didn't know," Mara said weakly.

"Once a servant of the Emperor," Vader said, "always a servant. You will know that truth soon enough, Daughter. Welcome home."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

A sound like a projectile going off rang through the air, followed a moment later by a breathless cry of pain.

"You've never felt your bones break, have you, Kal-El?" General Zod said with satisfaction as he stepped away from the kneeling, beaten young man. "Where is your vaunted Force now?

He flashed again toward Kale, lashing out with a vicious kick that would have decapitated a lesser being. Kale's chin snapped back and his body flew off the floor of the darkened valley of buildings where they had fallen. He somersaulted through the air to slam against one of the reinforced walls.

As his body began falling, Zod zoomed to him and caught him, only to slam him like a club against the floor.

Kale's face was swollen and bloody, his legs and arms bleeding from a dozen cuts. And now he suffered a broken rib. "Without your light sword, you are nothing!" Zod said.

He jumped ten meters in the air and came down with his elbow directly into Kale's back. The young man cried out in agony. "I will kill you," Zod continued as he stood, "and then I will have many, many years of pleasure torturing your little friend."

Suddenly the air over them shimmered and a holographic head of Emperor Palpatine appeared. "You have been watching, I presume?" Zod asked.

"I have," Palpatine said. "The space provided was satisfactorily prepared. Mara has returned to me. I have the princess. You may kill him whenever you wish."

"Excellent," Zod said.

Kale did not follow the words. All he heard was Mara. Mara had returned to the Emperor. It couldn't be. Palpatine had to be lying. And yet, why would he lie to Zod?

Suddenly the Kryptonian general was there, lifting Kale with a hand around his throat. "Too bad," Zod whispered. "She may be loyal to him, but he has promised her to me for my pleasure. I will kill her so slowly it will take her years to die. And then I'll clone her and he'll transfer her consciousness, and I'll do it again. Oh what fun we will have."

Kale shuddered at the thought of Mara suffering under Zod's hands, but he was physically so weak. His body had never taken a beating like this before, and it was hard for him to even think. But then he heard a whisper of a voice, like the wind through the reeds of Naboo. The voice said softly, "_Use the Force, Kale_."

"Master Kenobi?" Kale muttered.

"What is this?" Zod asked. "Do we grow delusional at the end, Kal-El? How pathetic. Just like your father…."

Kale tuned out the ranting of the general. He reached out for the Voice. Behind Zod he saw a wisp of an outline, a man wearing brown robes with a beard. Younger than he remembered, but it was definitely Ben Kenobi. The old Jedi looked at him now with compassion in his eyes. His lips moved, and like a whisper on the other side of the world, Kale could barely hear the words: "_Use the Force_."

"Now you die!" Zod said. He swung his fist with power enough to shatter worlds. Power enough to destroy suns. His fist stopped an inch from Kale's face. The general stared incredulously at first his fist, then at Kale. "What trickery is this?" he snarled.

"The Force," Kale whispered through cracked lips.

He pushed Zod back with the Force, and the general went flying away to slam into the far wall.

Kale wanted to stand tall and strong. Instead, without the general's angry fist holding him up, he collapsed to the floor in pain. Still, when Zod flew across the space at him roaring with anger, Kale looked up with determination and reached out for the one thing that separated him from all the rest of his people. Kale was not just the last son of Krypton. He was the first son of Krypton to be a Jedi.

Zod stopped as if slamming against an unbreakable wall. "What is this?" he raged.

Kale forced himself back to his feet, though he swayed. "I am a Jedi Knight," he said. "The Force is my ally."

He scanned his enemy's body with his x-ray vision. Call it intuition, but somehow Kale knew there had to be some threat the Emperor held over the Kryptonians to keep them in line. In took only seconds for him to detect the nanodroid resting in the muscle tissue of Zod's heart. "There is no death," Kale said. "There is only the Force."

"You will bow down before me, Kal-El!" Zod raged with spittle flecking his lips. "You will bow down before me!"

"No, I won't." With a flick of the Force, Kale crushed the nanodroid in Zod's heart and released the liquid Kryptonite within it.

Zod paled as Kale released his Force hold. The general clutched at his heart and fell to his knees. "Do you think you have beaten me?" Zod gasped. "Do you think you have won? I will have my revenge!"

With that, General Zod gasped one more time, turned a bright shade of red, and then fell forward onto the reinforced permacrete floor. Kale sat back himself, and then laid out flat on his back, staring up at the angry red sky. He reached out with the Force, and felt many presences that he had never sensed before.

They were more than just sensations, though. As he lay gasping in pain, he saw them, taking shape from the air. Jedi after Jedi, like Ben, shimmering silhouettes of blue that gathered around him, staring at him silently.

"He is the chosen one," one of the ghosts said.

"He will bring balance to the Force."

"He will be sorely tempted by his power."

"Strong, will he be."

Kale looked as a new ghost arrived, shorter than all the others. "Yoda!"

"Strong in the Force this place has become," Yoda's ghost explained to Kale. "Many Jedi died here. The Jedi Temple, this crater once was. But the Force lives on. Open to the Force, you must be, Kale."

"And the Force will give you strength," Ben added.

Kale was simply too exhausted to say anything. He nodded and fell back against the floor of what was once the Jedi Temple. The Force ghosts became merely a blur of shapes, and then simply an amorphous cloud of hazy blue. Suddenly the cloud shot into the air above Kale, arching over until it plunged directly into the young man's chest.

There was no pain, though, nor cold. It was a brilliant, beautiful warmth, like the feeling he had basking under the Naboo sun. The warmth filled him from fingertip**s** to toes, and he let the voices of the Jedi past wash through him. Suddenly it was gone. He was alone on a cold permacrete floor looking up at the stars overhead. He climbed to his feet, and then stared down in shock.

The blood was gone. The scrapes were gone. He felt no pain in his side, and he could blink his eyes without effort at the swelling. He looked back up and whispered, "Thank you, Masters."

"_Go now_," Ben's incorporeal voice said. "_Fulfill your destiny. Bring balance to the Force_."

Kale nodded with sudden, steely determination. "I will. I promise."


	29. Part III: Where are the Ewoks

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Where Are The Ewoks When You Need Them?**

A heavy, gloved cybernetic hand rested on Mara's shoulder. Darth Vader's other hand rested on Leia's. Both of their hands were securely bound and the trio of woman, Dark Lord and woman was surrounded by six crimson-cloaked Imperial Guards.

The turbolift carried them aloft to the highest tower of the palace. When the turbolift doors opened, they stepped onto a platform so high they could see the curvature of the planet itself out the massive wall-sized windows, and the sparkling battle in the orbit above them. The flashes seemed surprisingly close.

The Emperor's throne rested in the middle of the majestic windows. He sat facing them, his face a pale smudge in the shadows of the darkened room. The Imperial Guards took up positions on either side of the turbolift doors as Darth Vader escorted the two ladies down the center of the floor to the steps leading up the throne raised dais.

"Good evening, ladies," the Emperor said with a gleeful smile that showed two rows of yellowed teeth. "I have been expecting you."

"Obviously," Leia said with contempt. "I don't know what type of game you are playing, Emperor, but I promise you it will not work."

"I take great pleasure in correcting your understanding," Palpatine said, still grinning. "Admiral Thrawn, what is the status of the Second Fleet?"

A voice emerged from the holocom on the arm of Emperor's throne. "The Swift Sword squadron is ready and waiting, Majesty."

Palpatine nodded. Without taking his eyes off Leia, he said, "Commander Condin, reactivate the palace shields."

"Shields reactivated to full power," a curt voice replied.

"Very impressive," Leia said. "A little late, but impressive."

"Oh my dear, there is much more to come. Watch."

Through the window, above the horizon line of the planet, she could make out flashes of light that could only be ships entering from hyperspace. She stilled herself as she recognized what was happening.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Sir, Rebel ships have emerged from hyperspace at our flank!" Captain Arlani said.

Admiral Piett stared the man down for a moment, forcing the captain to remain calm. "Inform Imperial Center the rest of the Rebel Fleet has arrived," he said.

On board _Freedom's Hammer_, Admiral Ackbar watched as the ships of the Rebel Fleet emerged from hyperspace to flank the Imperial Fleet. The bulk of the Alliance fleet was made up of Mon Calamari star cruisers of various shapes and sizes and frigates, plus dozens upon dozens of smaller capital ships ranging from Corellian destroyers to old _Dreadnaught_-class destroyers and _Nebulon_-B frigates. In terms of sheer numbers, the Imperial fleet was actually outnumbered.

"All ships attack," Ackbar said. "Concentrate all fire on the _Executor's_ escorts to clear a path to the Imperial command ship."

The separate elements of the fleet sent acknowledgments. In just a few moments of the fire fight, the first of the _Executor's_ escort destroyers exploded in a huge ball of flame. "Will we do it?" a bridge officer asked.

"All things being equal, yes we will," Admiral Ackbar said. Suddenly alarm klaxons went off. The tactical view pulled back from the immediate engagement and showed the theatre as a whole. More ships began emerging from hyperspace, one after the other. Some were Imperial-I star destroyers, others Imperial-IIs. There were at least two _Executor_-class super star destroyers as well. Soon, the theatre was encircled by a fleet of almost two hundred star destroyers.

The bridge of the _Freedom's Hammer_ fell silent as someone deactivated the alarm. "By the Force," Ackbar heard one of his people say.

"It appears," the admiral said, "that all things are not equal."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Your friends have been trapped," Palpatine said to Princess Leia. "Your pitiful little band committed its entire fleet to this laughable attempt on my life. I'm afraid your friends cannot help you now, dear Princess."

"So confident are you?" Leia asked, unconsciously echoing her Jedi master.

"Confident enough," Palpatine said firmly. He touched the arm of his throne. "Commander, fire at will."

From the bowels of the planet, a platform arose unlike anything the ecumenopolis* had ever seen before. It was a massive cylindrical platform two kilometers in diameter, with a concave surface lined with six massive emitters with an even larger one in the middle. The platform rose up through the devastated and still burning cityscape a kilometer from the palace, completely untouched by the Rebel assault.

Each of the six emitters took on an otherworldly green glow before reaching into a point over the center emitter with thick green beams of energy. Milliseconds later, the central emitter fired, and the pulse seared through the atmosphere into space. On board the _Freedom's Hammer_, Ackbar watched in shock as the _Liberty_ ceased to exist in a split second.

"That blast came from the planet surface," a surprised Colonel Antilles' voice said over the com. "Fleet, the Imps have a superlaser on the surface!"

Ackbar understood now. The first fleet was to engage their attention. The second fleet was meant to trap them. It was the superlaser, however, that was going to finish them off. There was no chance of escape; there was only the manner in which they chose to die. Ackbar chose.

"All ships, this is the _Freedom's Hammer_. Move into close quarters with the First Imperial fleet. Perhaps we can limit the superlaser's field of fire."

"We won't last long against those star destroyers," Colonel Antilles pointed out.

"Better we go out fighting," General Lando Calrission's voice countered. "And we might just take a few of them with us!"

"Exactly my thinking," Ackbar said. "I will not let the Alliance to Restore the Republic go out quietly. My comrades, I choose to fight this day!"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"General, did you see that?" Major Derlin said.

Solo nodded. His converted battle vehicle had broken through the first line of defense and emerged into an open garden area atop one of the many towers of the palace when they saw the blast of the superlaser.

"All units, status report?" Solo asked. Reports started to come in—the forward progress of the rebel units had come to a halt—most were either penned down or retreating. They simply had not planned on the Emperor having over ten thousand troops in the palace.

And now their fleet was being eaten up by a superlaser no one had known about.

Solo made a decision. "I love you, Leia," he whispered aloud. Then: "All units, this is Solo. Change of plans. Withdraw from the palace immediately and target the superlaser. We've got to take that thing out!"

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Leia stood frozen in place, her heart thudding and perspiration beading on her neck. Her life, her love—everything she believed in was at risk. The fight she had dedicated her entire life to was on the verge of ending now in a resounding, soul-crushing loss.

"Your fleet has been destroyed. Young Kale is dead. Your hopes and dreams are no more." Palpatine smiled and closed his eyes. "Yes, I feel the hate within you, the despair," he hissed. Though his eyes were closed, from under his lids emerged a sickly orange glow. A silver cylinder emerged from his right sleeve and slid to a stop on the armrest of his throne. He patted it with a pale, withered hand. "You want this, don't you?" he asked.

"No!" Leia growled as she spun away from him to look out the vast window of the palace tower. The superlaser fired from a kilometer away. The blast was so powerful that the backwash from its energy caused the palace shields to flicker. She watched the beam reach into the heavens and snuff out more of her friends' lives.

"Take up your weapon!" Palpatine hissed. "Strike me down with all of your rage. Only in that way can you save your friends."

"I said no!" Leia wailed.

"You cannot avoid it," Palpatine smiled. "It is your destiny."

Leia bowed her head, drawing on the Force for strength.

The Emperor's throne com unit beeped. "Emperor," a curt voice said, "the rebel saboteurs have retreated from the palace and are heading for the superlaser."

"Keep the shields on the superlaser at full power, and when they realize they cannot penetrate it, kill them all."

"Yes, Emperor," the commander said.

Leia squeezed her eyes shut.

"Your lover will not survive," Palpatine said, sounding at once mournful and gleeful. Then, he began laughing.

The laughter stabbed at Leia, like a thousand knives each taking a small cut until her soul bled to death. How could any creature be so absolutely evil? How could any creature take such pleasure in pain? How could any such creature be allowed to live?

Leia's saber was in her hand before she was consciously aware of it. The sword flashed up and down in a precise, quick pattern. Brute force was irrelevant with a lightsaber, Yoda taught her. A mere flick of the blade could kill.

Her flick removed the emperor's hood and nearly his ear before the cackling laughter stopped. With astounding speed, Palpatine spun away from his throne and turned to glare at Vader. Doing so presented an amazing sight—Vader was on the floor and Mara Jade was standing over him. Obviously his former Hand had taken the Dark Lord by surprise.

The surprise lasted only a moment. With a mechanical rumble of rage, Vader reached out with the Force, grasped Mara's whole body in it, and tossed her across the floor to the feet of the Imperial Guard.

The guard, which by the Emperor's orders had taken no action, now accepted the message implied in Vader's actions and pounced on Mara.

Leia, meanwhile, did not wait. She rushed the Emperor again, her face cold and her saber bright. Again the Emperor had to dodge the strike, doing so with amazing speed for one who seemed as old and feeble as he did.

Finally, though, he became perfectly still. "Now is your chance, young Skywalker," he said, grinning maniacally. "Strike me down with all of your rage!"

Leia pounced with Force-borne speed and flashed the blade down, only to have it interrupted by the brilliant red blade of Darth Vader. Palpatine laughed. "Good. Very good."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Admiral Thrawn's forces are starting to close in," Captain Almand said.

Admiral Piett nodded as the _Executor_ shuddered from a broadside from one of the Rebel star cruisers. "My compliments to the Admiral, and will he please engage the enemy _post haste_? I have lost ten ships in as many minutes."

Captain Almand nodded.

"Bridge deflectors down!" a control trench tech said below the Admiral. Piett looked up as the ship shuttered.

"Increase forward firepower," he said. "I don't want anything to get through." To the captain, "Have the _Executor_ withdraw to behind Admiral Thrawn's lines. Lord Vader will be very upset if we lose his ship."

"Yes, Admiral."

Piett nodded and returned his attention to the main bridge windows. He saw a squadron of A-wing fighters strafing the surface of the super star destroyer, flying with impunity through the web of turbolaser fire.

In the lead ship, Green Hammer leader Arvel Crynyd of the Alliance to Restore the Republic cursed under his breath as his wingman went up in a ball of flame. Through the corner of his eye he could see Siala's body emerge from the wreckage and bounce like a toy against a weapon's blister.

"It's getting too hot!" he called. "Pull out, pull out, pull out!"

Green Hammer squadron broke apart abruptly as the different ships veered off on different vectors to try and escape the intensifying laser cannon and turbolaser fire. Arvel himself began the maneuver to pull up when a barrage of laser cannon fire struck his starboard engine.

His A-wing began spinning like a rifled bullet shot from its barrel, the spin serving not only to sicken the pilot but also stabilize its forward path.

On the deck of his destroyer, Admiral Firmus Piett saw a speck between the valley of towers leading to the control tower of his ship. It did not appear to move to one side or another and the admiral quickly realized what that meant.

"Increase forward fire power!" he ordered urgently. His men moved to obey, but it was already too late. Arvel Crynyd's ship had moved past the innermost defensive line of fire of the destroyer on a spinning, bulleted path directly toward the unshielded command deck. "Force preserve us," the admiral whispered a second before Arvel Crynyd's ship impacted the bridge.

On board _Freedom's Hammer_, Ackbar saw the command tower of the super star destroyer explode even as the massive ship was executing a full-burn turn to retreat. For the few precious seconds it took for control of the ship to shift from the command bridge to the tactical bridge within the main body of the craft, the _Executor_ flew blind and without control.

It spun directly into the _Devastator_ and nearly ripped the smaller destroyer in half. It then rammed into the _Fury_ in an increasingly erratic turn. The hypermatter reactor of the _Fury_ exploded in a blast many times more powerful than what the Alliance sent against Palpatine's palace. The resulting hypermatter reaction shredded the remnants of the _Executor's_ shields and hull armor, breaking the already over-stressed vessel in half.

"All ships back away!" Ackbar ordered.

The Alliance ships pulled away from the listing, flaming super star destroyer. The other Imperial ships attempted to do the same, but were hampered by their size and the close quarters of the combat. In attempting to prevent the Alliance star cruisers from coming between them for broadsides, the Imperial ships clumped close together. Now, that vicinity was killing them.

The _Executor_ exploded. In a reaction that could devastate a planet, the flagship of the Empire and Darth Vader's personal craft erupted in a ball of white flame that enveloped ten of the nearest Imperial star destroyers and more than a few Rebel fighters that were not fast enough. The enveloped star destroyers exploded in their turn, sending out shrapnel and fragments that damaged yet another five.

On board the newly commissioned super star destroyer _Emperor's Will_, Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, better known to humans as Thrawn, clicked his tongue as he watched Piett's fleet die. "A waste of fine men," he said. "Have all remaining ships from Oversector command withdraw behind my lines. Also order the ships to spread out so that we may use our heavy guns more effectively."

"Yes, Admiral," his ship's captain said.

"A waste of fine men," Thrawn said again.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Han was sitting in an open seat of their stolen emergency response vehicle when he saw one of his units ahead of him slam into the shields of the superlaser. The hovervan hit what at first appeared to be open air and then literally collapsed in on itself like a crushed can before exploding and falling into the dark, burning valleys below.

"Aw kriff," he muttered. "All units pull up. The gun is shielded! Pull up!"

"TIE Fighters coming in!" another unit reported. Han turned and saw a cloud of TIE fighters lit by the flames of the cityscape below him. There was not just a hundred. There was not just a thousand. The TIEs were beyond counting.

"Hit the deck!" Solo ordered. "All units go to ground!" He slammed a hand on the roof of his own vehicle and then held on as the hovervan spun around and flew toward the destroyed buildings below. The wind roared through his ears as they flew down.

Suddenly Kale was next to him, talking calmly. "It's all right, Han," the young man said over the wind of their passage. Han stared incredulously as Kale flew in a straight line beside him. "I know what I need to do."

"That's good, Kid," Han roared back. "Any suggestions about the rest of us?"

"Yeah," Kale grinned. "Just hang in there." And then, like that, he veered away.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Kale Naberrie was dead. Father and daughter fought in a blaze of lightsabers, and six Imperial Guards held Mara Jade motionless. The Emperor returned to his throne, hoodless but happy.

Everything was proceeding as he had foreseen.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Admiral Ackbar watched with resignation as the last elements of Darth Vader's personal fleet fled at full sublight from the Rebel Fleet. The rebels had attempted to follow, but the larger fleet surrounding them laid out such an intense barrage of fire the Rebels could not approach without devastating losses.

They had only a handful of the slave-rigged Corvettes left, and he had little hope they would be able to reach any of their intended targets.

Suddenly tired, the Mon Calamari sagged back against his command seat and let his head rest for a moment. It was, after all these years, finally over. The Alliance to Restore the Republic had failed.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Inform Imperial Center that the rebel ships have been isolated," Admiral Thrawn said.

"If the rebels surrender?" the ship's captain said.

Thrawn's expression was unreadable. "Per the Emperor's personal orders, no quarter shall be given."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Han's hovervan pulled up from its dive only after they were deep within the shadows of the burned out city section around the palace. Even so, he could see the swarms of TIE fighters in the skies above.

"General, look!" Major Derlin said, pointing up.

Solo followed the direction of the Major's finger and stared with jaws agape as the first swarm of TIE's began to explode. It looked much like when the Rebel hovervan hit the superlaser shields. The TIEs stopped mid-air and simply exploded as if striking a shield. But they were nowhere near the laser shields.

More TIEs exploded, and still more. The shield seemed to move to wherever the greatest concentration of TIEs was. The explosions were so numerous it began to look as if the sky itself was on fire.

Suddenly Han's com beeped. "Han, come back," Kale said. His voice sounded tired. "The TIEs are neutralized. I need you for a new mission."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"You have grown powerful, my daughter," Vader said as he parried a deadly lunge from Leia. She spun cleanly from his riposte and repositioned herself. "Harness your anger, and together we could destroy the Emperor."

"I think the Emperor may object to that," Leia said dryly.

"That would not matter," Vader said. "Join me, and together we can end this conflict!"

"I will never turn, Darth," Leia said. "And you'll be forced to kill the last of your children, just like you killed my mother."

For once, Vader did not roar in rage and attack. Rather he became very still. "You are the last of my line," he said.

"I am," she said. "And I am the end of you."

"We shall see." Vader swung a powerful blow, expecting to level his daughter to the ground. What happened next surprised the Dark Lord, and brought back memories of years ago.

Before he wore his suit—before he became Darth Vader—Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi dueled a Dark Lord of the Sith. Count Dooku was a skilled swordsman who had defeated both the Jedi in the past. But after years of study, in the first Battle of Coruscant, Anakin surprised the Sith by at first using the lightsaber style of Ataru, and then switching to the more powerful Form V.

Before his eyes, his daughter used the same tactic but with reversed styles. Before, she actually fought him using a mirror of his own Form V style. But as he swung, she launched herself into a spinning jump that took her over his head. As her feet came around she kicked out strongly to the back of Vader's helmet, sending the Dark Lord stumbling forward. She caught her fall with her hands and rolled instantly back to her feet.

Vader spun around just as Leia jumped not at him, but at the wall beside him, seeming to run sideways on the wall as she slashed viciously at him. She jumped away from the wall, delivering another Force-strengthened kick to his helmet before she came to her feet.

"Impre…" Vader started to say, before Leia immediately rolled and slashed. Her movements were so fast, so agile and practiced, Vader had difficultly following her. She moved faster than his cybernetics could follow, even with the Force as his ally.

His daughter had mastered Form IV, just like her master, Yoda. As she spun around with an expertly wielded slash and he watched as his hand fell away, the stab of pain the cybernetic connections sent through his nerves was overwhelmed by pride. His daughter was an amazing Jedi!

He fell to his knees, disarmed, and looked up at his daughter. "You have won," he said. "Strike me down and take my place. It is your birthright."

"The daughter of Dark Vader might do just that," Leia said as she stepped back. "The daughter of Anakin Skywalker would not."

She stepped away from Vader and looked at the Emperor. "I am a Jedi. You will never turn me to the Dark Side."

"So you think," Palpatine snarled, no longer amused.

Suddenly his throne com beeped and an alarmed voice came through the signal. Palpatine turned and stared as he heard the message.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Set up a cross-fire, all ships, all weapons," Thrawn said. "I believe at this point the Emperor will forgive our assistance in the Rebel's demise."

His ship's captain nodded curtly and conveyed the order. He saw the flash of green light from the surface and looked forward to the death of another rebel capital ship, but the beam zoomed past the bulk of the rebel ship, directly into the _Emperor's Will_.

"Expertly done," Grand Admiral Thrawn said aloud as his flagship exploded.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"Han must have taken the superlaser!" Lando said from the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_ as another blast destroyed the second of the super star destroyers of the Imperial fleet. "He's taken the laser!"

"All ships remain in formation," Ackbar said, watching as this time the Imperial ships began to break formation under the incredible firepower from the surface. "Let's not muddy the waters for General Solo."


	30. Part III: Superman

**Chapter Chapter Thirty: Superman**

The turbolift doors behind the six Imperial Guards opened with a hiss. Kale Naberrie stepped onto the platform, clad in his black suit with the El family crest on his chest. The guards responded instinctively with their force pikes, but Kale simply waved his hand. With a nudge of the Force, the six guards flew off the platform, colliding with bone-crunching speed against support pillars before falling into the depths below.

He helped Mara to her feet. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Mara nodded. "I didn't do this," she said.

"I believe you." He leaned over and kissed her. Then he stepped onto the platform proper where Leia stood facing the Emperor. A few meters away he saw Vader sitting on the floor, cradling a stump for his arm.

"Nice job, cousin," Kale said.

"Thank you," Leia said with obvious relief.

The two walked side-by-side toward the Emperor.

"General Han Solo of the Alliance to Restore the Republic is currently in control of your little toy laser," Kale said. "I believe he has now destroyed ten of your ships, including every super star destroyer in orbit. And as you might guess, General Zod and Non are no longer with us."

"No matter, General Solo's control will be short lived," the Emperor said with cool calm.

"I have ensured nothing will enter the laser complex short of heavy explosives," Kale said. "And if you detonate high explosives, the hypermatter chamber of the laser itself will explode and take a third of Coruscant with it."

"Palpatine, you are under arrest," Leia said. "For high treason against the Galactic Republic and for crimes against sentients."

"I have played this game before, Princess Leia," Palpatine said. "I do not care to play it again."

He removed a lightsaber from underneath his robe. When he lit it, the blade was a scintillating green color.

Kale held out his hand, and the saber flew from the stunned Palpatine's hands to his. Kale promptly deactivated it and handed it to Leia. "I don't think so," Kale said.

Suddenly the Emperor started laughing. His cackle echoed through the chambers. He paused only long enough to howl, "Padmé!"

Kale felt a suddenly stirring in the Force, as if a bolt of darkness struck like lightning beside him. He turned just in time to see the green point of the lightsaber in Leia's hands activate and flash toward him. The tip penetrated his suit and twelve centimeters into his side before he backed away from Leia, stunned.

Her expression had changed, as if she wore a mask of rage that belonged to someone else entirely. "Meet Darth Devia," Palpatine cackled. "My new apprentice."

"Leia," Kale whispered.

"She no longer answers to that name, Kale," Vader said from the opposite side of the floor. "She is not who she thought she was."

"No one can withstand the power of the Dark Side," Palpatine said. He snapped his fingers, and a green-toned shield sprang up around Kale. "Not even you."

Kale knew without needing to test the theory that the shielding contained Krytonite radiation. He could feel the weakening effects on his body just standing within it. Beyond the field, Leia stood with an expression of contempt while the Emperor laughed.

"Foolish boy," the Emperor said. "For all your strength and power, your mind still failed before the might of the Dark Side. Everything has transpired as I have foreseen. Let your pitiful band fire the laser—the power will be diverted in moments, and they will all die. Your fleet will still be destroyed, and now your faithful cousin has betrayed you."

He looked up into the shadows and with a pull of the Force called down a large mechanical device shaped faintly like a gun. "I used this on your fellow Kryptonians. It will shoot a nanodroid into your heart with Kryptonite, enough to kill you. And yes, young Kale, you will die."

"No!" Mara screamed. She ran at Leia and the Emperor, somehow holding Darth Vader's lightsaber.

"Destroy her," the Emperor ordered Leia.

"Yes, My Master," Leia said in a deep voice at once alien and familiar. With a sneer, she launched herself into a spinning kick and planted a foot on Mara's chin before the other woman could react.

Mara went sprawling, but then quickly rolled back into a fighting stance, her lightsaber held in a competent hand.

"Shall we wait for your friend to die first?" Palpatine asked kindly to Kale, "or should we kill you first to make her suffer?"

"You should be sure your plan works before you do anything," Kale said calmly.

Mara was a trained assassin and an expert fighter. However, she was a year out of training. Moreover, Leia was a trained Jedi in full control of the Force. The fight was not even remotely fair.

After a vicious kick that sent Mara sprawling on the floor, Leia easily Force-pulled the red saber from Mara's numb fingers and sauntered over, leering. "Was the whelp worth it?"

"Was Han?" Mara asked, looking up and wiping away the blood running from her nose.

Leia laughed. "I hope he does survive the superlaser. I'll have lots of fun with him before I kill him."

"I'm sorry, Leia," Mara said.

The princess snorted. "Sorry? For what?"

"For not trying to save you before they destroyed your soul."

Snarling, Leia pulled her saber back to strike and thrust forward. The blade did not penetrate Mara Jade, however.

It penetrated the black-armored chest of Darth Vader. "What is this?" Leia demanded, backing away in surprise.

"Bail," Vader whispered.

Leia blinked and then froze, her body trembling. The saber deactivated and fell to the ground as Vader fell to his knees. "What is going on here?" she asked, confused.

"You did not ever truly turn, my daughter," Vader said weakly. "And so the Emperor used a Sith technique to create a new persona within your mind. Your mother's name was the activation code." His legs pulled out from under him as he lowered further to floor. "But I made sure that your father's name would deactivate it. The father you loved."

Slowly he leaned back, to rest suddenly in Mara Jade's arms. Leia knelt down beside him. "You tried to warn me. The creature said, 'She was not who she thought she was.'"

"The Noghri repeated me literally, then," Vader said. "I meant for him to say 'You', but the Noghri do not speak Basic well." She heard a faint, mechanical chuckle that seemed odd coming from beneath the mask. "I am sorry, my daughter, for the pain I caused you. For the pain I caused your mother. I loved her very much. Force willing, I pray that I see her again."

"Father…" Leia whispered, surprised by the moisture in her eyes.

"Force be with you, my beautiful little Leia," Darth Vader whispered before the mechanical hiss of his respirator ended, and Anakin Skywalker died.

"Just as I had foreseen," Kale Naberrie said from across the floor.

The Emperor spun around, his face etched in lines of rage. "No matter," he snarled. "Your death will be enough."

Kale lifted a hand, his fingers splayed out, and then he closed them together into a fist.

The odd projectile weapon suddenly crumpled in on itself, crushed into a mere portion of its previous size. The Emperor backed away, clearly startled.

"I am not like Zod, Ursa or Non," Kale said, still calm. "Nor am I like Master Yoda. I am a Kryptonian Jedi. The galaxy has never seen my like before." He looked up and, with a wave of his hand, the shield blinked out of existence. "Your days of tyranny are at an end, Emperor. If the Empire surrenders now, you will be allowed to live the rest of your life in isolation."

"The Empire's resources even now far surpass those of the Rebellion," the Emperor snarled. "Surrendering would be foolish."

"But you would be alive."

"You still don't understand, do you boy?" Palpatine said as he raised his pale hands. "No one can withstand the power of the Dark Side!"

Leia and Mara both crouched down, knowing what to expect. Kale stood calmly as the Emperor called upon the power of the Force and unleashed a maelstrom of blue lightning. The power struck Kale like a blow and pushed him back, but only a few meters.

Kale set his shoulders, and again began walking inexorably toward the Emperor. Palpatine's maniacal grin turned to a grimace as he slowly began to retreat before Kale's unstoppable approach. The younger man moved faster, shouldering aside the Force lightning as if it were merely a heavy door to be pushed open.

"Impossible!" the Emperor shouted even as he continued to spray lightning.

Across the floor, Mara grabbed Leia's hand. "We have to get to the turbolift!"

Leia turned, confused. "What?"

"This tower reaches to the upper stratosphere," Mara said. "If that canopy breaks, we'll be killed! We need to get to the turbolift."

Leia nodded and then looked down. "Not without my father."

Mara looked from Vader to Leia, and then to the battle. "Okay, but we need to hurry!"

By the throne, the Emperor called upon all the power of the Force and thrust it with all his skill and mastery at Kale. The energy produced would have killed even the most powerful Jedi Master. With twenty years of additional study since their last meeting, not even Yoda or Mace Windu could have withstood the onslaught.

It was not enough.

With a grunt at the effort, Kale stepped close enough to shunt the Emperor's glowing hands aside. Flashes of lightning filled the upper reaches of the throne room. Behind him, Kale sensed Mara and Leia dragging Vader's body into the turbolift.

The time had come.

He reached out his right hand and grabbed the Emperor by the throat. With the Force as much as his physical strength, he and the Emperor lifted off the throne room floor. Kale looked past the Emperor and with a moment of concentration the transparisteel window shattered like glass. With the exception of a pocket of air caught in a bubble of Force energy around them, everything within the throne room not bolted down flew out into the un-breathable thin air of Coruscant's upper stratosphere.

Kale ignored the cold as he drifted out of the tower. The rest of the planet-wide cityscape stretched out as a panorama around them, while in a ring below them burned the destroyed area where the Rebel strike had hit. Kale could see the edge of the impact area where a ring of fire still burned.

"I could help you complete your training!" the Emperor said suddenly. "I am the most learned Force user in this galaxy. Together, we could rule the Galaxy!"

"I don't want to rule the Galaxy," Kale said. "And more importantly, I don't want you to rule the galaxy."

"Then we won't rule!" Palpatine said, his voice increasing with pitch the further they flew from the palace tower. "We could retreat to any planet of your choosing. I could teach you all the ways of the Force, not just the Dark Side. I am a master of both."

"I don't want to be a master of the Force," Kale said. "And I know you aren't. You are a tool of the Dark Side. Nothing more."

"Don't be a fool, boy!" Palpatine said, sounding both contemptuous and pleading at once. It was a skill he had, Kale noted. "There is so much I could teach you!"

Kale let go of the Emperor, but kept him suspended with the Force. "There is only one thing I want of you, Palpatine."

"What?" Palpatine said, begging.

"I want you to look down."

Palpatine looked down. He saw a black concave surface almost a kilometer in diameter directly below him. The six component beams of the superlaser were assuming a green glow.

The Emperor looked back up, his face pulled back in a rictus grimace of terror. "No, you can't do this to me!"

"I will do nothing," Kale said as he slowly drifted back. "I will not drop you, Palpatine. I will not kill you. I just won't save you. You are going to die by your own weapon. And I promise, the galaxy will not miss you."

Below, the component beams sent their shafts of green energy toward the central targeting area, into which the main emitter fired.

"Nooooo!" Palpatine howled until a beam of energy as thick as a corvette seared through the air he once occupied. Even the molecules making up the body of Emperor Palpatine ceased to exist.

When the beam passed on its way to destroy another Imperial star destroyer, Kale let the pull of air into the column of vacuum caused by the laser's passage pull him forward a little. He removed the com from his pocket. "Han, this is Kale. Congratulations, your last shot killed the Emperor."

"No kidding," Han's voice came. "Well good for me."

"You might want your people to blow the locks and get out. I don't like superlasers."

"Me neither, kid. We'll be out in a bit."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Panicked Imperial guards, soldiers, stormtroopers and civilian staff avoided the two women and the black-suited body like the plague. Eventually, Mara found a hoversled and they were able to load Vader's body on it. They walked calmly through the halls of the palace amid the confused and angry screams. Eventually, they came to a line of storm troopers standing guard over one of the breaches Han's people caused. The breach led into a landing bay.

The stormtroopers' officer stopped them both, and then noticed the suit on the gurney. "What is happening here…?" he asked, suddenly not so sure of himself.

"This is my father," Leia told the officer. "Your Emperor is dead. I am taking the body of my father to be cremated according to the rites of his people. Please stand aside."

Behind the young lieutenant, the stormtroopers turned and stared in shock as they too heard the announcement. One of the troopers, a sergeant by his red shoulder plate, removed his helmet. "My name is Solis Parata, Princess," he said. "I was in the docking bay when you and your comrades escaped. Lord Vader spoke kindly to me afterward." He looked back at the lieutenant and the other soldiers as if daring them to stop him, and when no such dare came, nodded. "I will escort you to a shuttle."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Leia said.

Parata nodded wordlessly and led them without protest or obstacle through the line of soldiers into the docking bay beyond. There were several shuttles waiting; Parata led them to the nearest.

When they arrived, the stormtrooper looked down at Vader, and then snapped to attention and saluted. "He was the bravest leader of men I ever served with," he said. "Whatever else could be said, good or ill, he will always be that to me." He nodded to Mara and Leia, slipped his helmet back on, and returned to his post.

Leia's com beeped at her as she and Mara settled into the cockpit after securing the body. "Leia?" Han's voice said.

"This is Leia. Are you alright?"

She heard a deep sigh. "I am now," Han said. "Kale said the Emperor was dead. We're vacating the superlaser now and will make our way to the rendezvous for transport off the planet. How are you two?"

"We've secured a shuttle and are heading out."

"Great. I'll see you on _Freedom's Hammer_, assuming she's still there."

The shuttle emerged from the hangar bay in time for an incredibly loud rumble to reverberate against the transparisteel canopy of the shuttle. Leia and Mara both turned to see, and both fell intensely quiet.

"He is a god, isn't he?" Leia whispered after a few awe-struck beats of her heart.

"No, he's just Kale," Mara whispered. "My Kale."

In the distance, a cylinder of black a kilometer in diameter and nearly ten kilometers tall slowly rose like a thrusting sword over the cityscape of the city. It was an impossible pillar of black that should not have been able to rise as swiftly as it did. There was no backwash of thrusters; there was no radioactive wave of energy. There was no means of propulsion visible at all from where they sat.

But both Leia and Mara knew that if they had Kale's eyes, they could see that directly underneath the base of the cylinder, directly below the hypermatter reactor, a single speck of life was the sole source of propulsion.

In orbit around the planet, under the command of Captain Pellaeon of the _Chimaera_, who because of the destruction of the super star destroyers was the senior fleet officer still living, the Imperial Fleet began to reform for a final thrust against the still massively out-numbered rebel fleet. There was, after all, no place to retreat to, and they could not allow the Alliance to remain in control of Imperial Center.

Ackbar in turn ordered the Fleet to begin departure procedures, since he knew that even with the superlaser supporting them, the Rebel Fleet could not withstand a full Imperial assault.

Both fleets' sensors detected the massive object rising from the surface at the same time. At first both sides feared it was another superdestroyer, but then they realized it was the super laser itself. Although they would never know it, on the command decks of their respective ships, both Captain Pellaeon and Admiral Ackbar, at the very same moment, exclaimed, "By the Force!"

Though human eyes could not see it, the thousands of active scans coming from all the ships in orbit around the planet let there be no mistake on who and what was lifting the massive superlaser through the atmosphere and into space. The laser itself came to rest directly between the fleets three hundred thousand kilometers from the surface.

Suddenly a voice boomed through both fleets. Communications officers looked for a signal, but they would never find one, since the Force was beyond energy signals. "The Emperor is dead. Darth Vader is dead. This battle has been won. All Alliance forces will be allowed to withdraw unmolested from Coruscant, or I will use this big gun as a club and personally beat every Imperial to death with it."

To demonstrate, the superlaser cylinder suddenly swung down, slamming into the fore of a star destroyer that had come too close. The enter destroyer flipped down and around from the blow, colliding with another half a kilometer behind it.

Pellaeon shuddered, genuinely afraid for the first time since the Clone Wars. "This is Captain Pellaeon to all Imperial forces. We will allow the rebels to withdraw."

He expected at least some objections, but there were none.

So, in the hour it took to evacuate all rebel agents from the surface and from the defense platforms, the Imperial fleet waited and the massive superlaser hovered like a bat under the control of Kale Naberrie. Finally, the Rebel ships left the gravitational well of the planet and soared into space, save for a single Imperial shuttle.

With a gigantic show of power, Kale began swinging the superlaser around and around until at last when he let it go the laser zoomed through space at near luminal speed. It flew toward Platoril, one of the barren inner planets of the Coruscant System. He did not dare throw it at the sun, since the amount of hypermatter within it could destroy the star itself.

The Imperial sensors scanned Kale as he flew to the Imperial shuttle and boarded through the airlock, and moments later it, too, was gone. The Second Battle of Coruscant was over.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

"I never knew Naboo was so beautiful," Leia said.

"It was a blessing in more ways than one that Ben brought me here and placed me with the Naberrie family," Kale said.

The two stood before a marker that stood in the middle of a large lot of land occupied only by blue-green Naboo grass . Houses stood on either side, but this one lot remained empty. A bunch of violet flowers grew in a circle before the marker.

"This is where you grew up?" Leia asked.

"This is where my childhood died," Kale said. "This was the Naberrie Estate."

Leia nodded and took Kale's hand in hers. "Thank you for showing me."

Kale turned to her, smiled, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "They are your family too. As am I."

Behind them, Han and Mara stood by the hovercar, waiting. "The ceremony will be soon," Leia said.

"Then we should go," Kale said.

They joined their loves, and as the sun approached the horizon, the four flew toward the center of Theed. They were met by Queen Kylantha herself and a large, somber delegation of Naboo royalty.

"Princess Leia," the Queen said with a bow. She turned and bowed to Kale. "Prince Kale."

Mara and Han both raised brows, but Kale shrugged. "The Naberrie family was made nobility after Padmé Amidala served as queen," he said softly. He bowed to the Queen. "Majesty."

"You put us at an awkward position with your request," she said.

"The Empire will not attack Naboo," Kale said with certainty.

"How can you be so sure?" the Queen asked.

"Because I will be here," he said.

Evidently it was enough. The Queen nodded, turned, and began a slow procession through the streets of the city. Leia walked directly behind her, with Kale and the others behind him. A few meters in front of the queen, floating on a repulsor sled, rested the body of an old, pale-skinned Jedi. He wore the full raiment of a Jedi knight, and on his chest, between his folded hands, the sun glinted off the cylinder of a lightsaber. There was no sign of the armor, and those limbs lost in life were replaced with realistic ceramic in death. He looked whole, content and at peace.

It was the third such procession the Naboo had ever seen in the past twenty five years, but it was the first for a man not born on Naboo soil.

People lined the streets in absolute silence, watching intently and trying to get a glimpse of the Jedi who passed by. There were whispers among the crowd that this was the husband of their beloved Queen Amidala; that this was Anakin Skywalker, the hero of the Trade Federation Conflict. This was the boy who saved their world, come home at last to be with the woman he loved.

They reached a bier in an open park near the palace. Rising from the center of the park was a statue of the most popular queen the planet had ever seen. The statue showed her in the formal regalia of office, but between the overly formalized garments, Kale could see Leia's cheeks in the statue's face, the turn of her chin; the shape of her ears. Others noticed as well, including the queen.

"This was your mother, Princess," Kylantha said. "Queen Amidala, known to friends and family as Padmé Naberrie."

Leia grimaced when she heard her mother's name, but the Dark Side personality the Emperor had implanted seemed to be gone. She looked up and did not bother to hide the moisture in her eyes.

"It's time," Kale said from behind her. "Do you want help?"

Leia shook her head. "He was my father."

Leia stepped past the queen to the hoversled. She nodded to the Royal Naboo guards who served as attendants, and reached for the Force. Anakin Skywalker's body lifted gently from the platform and floated through the air toward the bier. The people watched enthralled at this show of Force power, and many did not breathe until the body came to a rest at the top of the bier.

She walked slowly toward the head of the bier, standing between her father, and the statue of her mother. To the west, the sun grazed the horizon, sending sparks of brilliant oranges, reds and vermilions through the Naboo sky. Leia bowed her head. "I forgive you, father," she whispered to the Force.

A wall of shadow began to sweep across the city as the sun sank further below the horizon. The people of Naboo waited in perfect silence, with the exception of a lone baby who wailed before the mother hushed it. At last the sun set.

Leia removed her lightsaber and lit it. Its blue glow was the only light in the otherwise darkened park. The whole of Theed, for this hour, went without any lights.

Leia stepped forward, lowered the saber to the wood, and touched the blade to the kindling. A tongue of flame appeared after a moment, and then quickly encircled the whole bier, following the trail of accelerant. Leia stepped back and watched as the flames rose higher and higher, until finally they engulfed the figure at the top.

She felt an arm around her shoulders and looked up to see Han smiling down at her, dashing in his formal Alliance dress uniform. "I love you," he said.

"I know," Leia said. "I love you too."

They turned and walked toward Kale, Mara and the delegation. As they did so, though, something moved Leia to turn back to where she had been. She saw a flickering blue glow—and from the glow emerged a figure of a striking young man with long, curling hair. Serious blue eyes smoldered with emotions so strong he had difficulty containing them. Yet, he smiled at her, and she knew the emotions this apparition felt were not of the Dark Side.

He turned, and Leia felt her heart stop as another glow appeared, stepping from the statue itself. It was a woman of such refined elegance and beauty she took Leia's breath away. She dared not take her eyes away from what she saw, but she still reached for and clung to Han's hands.

"What is it, sweetheart?" he asked.

"Her father," Kale said. "She can see him." Kylantha and the delegation stared at him a moment, then followed Kale's gaze.

Kale smiled at them and reached out a hand, grasping the Force with a power at once subtle and irresistible. The Force responded, and to the startled gasps of everyone there, two shimmering figures of beauty appeared between the sparkling flames of the bier, and the statue.

The people of Naboo watched with tears in their eyes as the Hero of Naboo fell to his knees before their most beloved queen, holding her hand to his lips in a silent plea. There were gasps and cries as she also knelt down, and gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a loving embrace.

Together, the two stood and turned, holding hands, toward Leia. They raised their hands to her, and Leia responded in kind, tears streaming openly down her cheeks. Then, together, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala Skywalker turned and stepped into the statue, fading at last from view.

"Goodbye," Leia whispered.

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

The war was not over, of course. Though the victory was resounding and world after world joined the Alliance following the deaths of the Empire's leaders, the sheer size and might of the Empire was too much to simply sweep away. However, the tide had inexorably turned. With the Jedi Princess and her Warrior Husband leading their forces, the Alliance to Restore the Republic began a genuine sweep across the galaxy, gathering Forces and allies, until ten months later, the Alliance returned to Coruscant with a force a hundred times stronger than the Imperial defenders, and returned the Alliance to Coruscant.

Kale watched it all on the holonet, with Mara at his side.

The decision for Kale to stay on Naboo mystified his friends and appalled Mon Mothma, but truly there was no other viable alternative in Kale's eyes.

"I am too powerful," he explained to the Alliance Advisory Council, including Leia. "I am a weapon that should not be wielded lightly. This is a war that the people of this galaxy must fight for themselves and win for themselves. If I win it for you, it will cheapen all the sacrifices you have already made."

"That is an easy statement to make from someone who cannot be killed," Mon Mothma said cooly.

Kale stared at her for a long minute until the leader of the Alliance dropped her gaze. "Mon, please don't ever make the mistake of thinking that because I cannot die I have not suffered. I have suffered as much as anyone in this fleet. But Mon, I also know that I could make others suffer even more. I have personally killed hundreds of thousands of Imperials through destroying their ships or fighting them directly. No more. I will not do that again. If I cross that line of fighting your wars for you, then you all will have more to fear from me than anything the Empire could give you."

He stepped forward and placed his insignia on the table in front of Mothma. "If the Galaxy ever faces a threat that not even you can face, then I will be there to save lives. But I will not fight in this war any more."

With that, Kale turned and left the Alliance.

The following week, in a quiet ceremony attended by his cousin and her newly wedded husband, Kale and Mara were wed. Mara wore a white shimmersilk veil over her flaming red hair, and a white dress that gleamed like pearl under the blue Naboo skies. The lake country rested majestically beyond the terrace where they wed.

"I love you, Mara Naberrie," he said as they kissed.

"And I love you, Kale Naberrie," she said back. "And I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how much."

~~Last Son~~

~~Last Son~~

Time passed and the tides of history rolled on. Leia and Kyle Katarn founded a new Jedi Order and established a new High Council. At first there was only the two of them, but in time others joined them and the ranks of the New Jedi Order increased. Six years after the formation of the New Republic, Leia was elected the High Chancellor. She served two terms and was considered the most successful to hold the office.

There were struggles and conflicts, to be sure. Kale watched them with detached interest. He turned his attention to his home planet, using his power to help the planet recover from years of Imperial occupation. In time, he was appointed as the Prime Minister, though he served only one term.

After trying for five years, while Kale was serving as a council person for Theed City and his cousin Leia was campaigning for the position of High Chancellor, Mara delivered their first child.

"Jor-El Naberrie," Mara said as she introduced Kale to his son in the Medcenter for the first time.

Enchanted, Kale held the child in his arms, looking with the eyes of both a Kryptonian and a Jedi. He saw a perfectly healthy child with a human body created with highly dense cells.

"It appears Kryptonian genes are dominant," the Naboo doctor confirmed. "If I remember what your parents told me about you, I must say that I wish you and your wife every happiness, and a great deal of luck."

The doctor dismissed himself, leaving the happy family snuggled together on Mara's bed. Two years later, Jor-El's sister Karia was born, again with the dominate Kryptonian physiology.

Things were not always perfect, of course, but when he was around his wife and children, Kale was content. He had his family, and a home to be proud of. It was a dream come true, and he loved everyone moment of it.

~ fin ~

* * *

A/N: Thanks everyone for reading again. The story of Kale Naberrie continues in **Children of the Red Sun**, which is complete and already available in my stories. Thank you for reading.


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